Join us for a conversation with Pear_ed and Kayle Brandon exploring artistic collaboration and social relations with local plant life across urban and rural environments in the Radić Pavilion at Hauser & Wirth Somerset.
Pear_ed, comprising of plant biologist Cynthia Fan and landscape architect Hayden Malan, will be on site in September to conduct artist-led research in response to Oudolf Field. Together, they will examine how the garden meets its rural surroundings, find contrast and connection between controlled and wild spaces, and discover how the materiality of plants invites modes of artistic engagement.
The talk will be chaired by writer, curator and producer Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp, who is the 2025 – 2026 recipient of Hauser & Wirth and Spike Island’s Engagement Fellowship for South West-Based Curators. This event is part of ‘Ecotones: Where the Urban & Rural Embrace’, a year-long engagement program hosted by the two art centers.
Schedule
- 6 – 7 pm: Talk
- 7 – 7.15 pm: Audience Q&A
Tickets are free, however we encourage donations to our 2024 – 2026 charity partner, Good Company Bruton. Advance booking is essential. Seats will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.
Oudolf Field will remain open until 6 pm, so we encourage visitors to explore our perennial meadow before the talk. Visitors are welcome to have a drink in Roth Bar which serves refreshments until 6 pm. Da Costa will be taking dinner reservations until 9.30 pm.
Please note that the gallery will be closed from 5 pm.
About Pear_ed
Pear_ed is a collaborative project by plant biologist Cynthia Fan and landscape architect Hayden Malan. Together, they share a preoccupation with the sculptural potential of plants as both natural organisms and modular structures. Their shared enquiry into botany, biology and art centers on the guiding question: ‘What do plants really want?’ At once resisting and quoting traditions of flower arranging, the pair’s botanical compositions become a medium for spending time with organic matter and listening to the non-human sentient. Through their sharing of plant knowledge, they are able to provide educational interest as well as draw attention to the importance of plant biodiversity.
About Kayle Brandon
Kayle Brandon is an interdisciplinary artist who works within public and social contexts to make works which are embedded in specific sites, places and communities. Her main areas of interest circle around peoples relationships to nature, urban space, animals, architecture and survival. Her work often involves physicality, intervention and experimental exploration. She works across several disciplines and mediums, including cartography, botany, anthropology, drawing, writing, sculptor and craft. Brandon regularly works in collaborative, collective scenarios, often merging art with activism. She has exhibited internationally and locally, appearing in shows at The Museum of Modern art in New York NY and Spike Island, Bristol, UK.
About Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp
Florence Fitzgerald-Allsopp is a Bristol-based writer, curator and producer. Her recent Techne-funded doctoral research considered the ethics of interspecies relations in contemporary art and performance from an intersectional perspective. Her book ‘Interspecies Performance,’ co-edited with Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, was published in 2024 by Performance Research Books. Fitzgerald-Allsopp has curated and produced projects across visual arts and performance for cultural organizations including Cove Park, Helensburgh, UK; DAS, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; CCA, Glasgow, UK; Ellen de Bruijne Projects, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; In Between Time, Bristol, UK; Cirque Bijou, Bristol, UK; and Smithson Projects, UK. Her writing has been commissioned by artists and galleries internationally, including SLQS Gallery, London, UK; Co-Prosperity, Chicago IL; Handmark Gallery, Hobart, Australia; and K-Gold Temporary Gallery, Greece.
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Images: Cynthia Fan. Photo: Billy Barraclough; Hayden Malan. Photo: Daniel Malan; Kayle Brandon. Courtesy Bricks Bristol
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