Stacks of "musical farms" have arrived at V&A Dundee to showcase musical talent and the future of where food might come from.
The Cubes of Perpetual Light combine so-called "vertical farming" with compositions by musicians from Scotland and beyond. Among the artists are Craig Armstrong, a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning composer who has scored films including Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby and Love Actually.
Other featured musicians include beatboxer Jason Singh, African/Scots musical group Trio Da Kali and DJ Brian d'Souza - better known as Auntie Flo - who won the Scottish Album of the Year Award in 2019. Their compositions will serve as an accompaniment to the funky farms.
Vertical farming is being touted as a future way of growing food in a sustainable and effective way. Rather than using sunlight and industrial irrigation to grow food, vertical farms can use energy efficient LEDs and fine water mists to create produce at a fraction of the cost and resource.
Because they are not at the mercy of the weather, the crops produced at vertical farms can be grown consistently, under precision-controlled conditions. Researchers at the James Hutton Institute in Invergowrie have been operating a vertical farm since 2018, studying the future of food.
But the V&A farms, on display until August 28, have more to them than your average farming stack - namely rich quadraphonic speakers to pump out the jams produced by the medley of composers. Some of the displays will also been shown off elsewhere in the country throughout the summer.
The project is the brainchild of Dandelion, a Scotland-wide, six month long art project that aims to get people thinking creatively about their food and the planet as a whole. As well as hosting events and creating art projects, the scheme aims to encourage Scots to consider having a go at growing their own produce.
V&A Dundee boss Leonie Bell said she was "delighted" to welcome the musical farms to the museum, while Dandelion producer Jenny Niven said they were "not to be missed".
Dundee has also been gifted an "unexpected garden" as part of Dandelion's programme of events - a disused bowling green at Fairmuir Park. The green has been repurposed to grow vegetables, salad leaves, herbs and flowers in order to give locals and visitors alike "a reason to gather once again."
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