Pollination
26th September to 9th January
Definition
The transfer of pollen to stigma, ovule, flower or plant to allow fertilisation.
The issue
With the colony collapse disorder in combination with the general habitat loss of our natural pollinators, the word pollination seems to be finally popping into some of today’s headlines. It seems we are FINALLY coming to accept that humans are having an indefinite impact on our Earths' pollinators. In the U.K alone one-third of wild bee and hoverfly populations declined between 1980-2013.
The list of pollinators on our earth is surprisingly large, to name a few we have; bees, wasps, hummingbirds, butterflies, moths, bats and even mosquitos! So why the decline? Well, the biggest problem we are having is our ever-expanding population in combination with consumption and production rates being unnecessarily high. Pollination by animals and insects is required for around 70% of food crops, and with pollinators in decline, this process now has to be undertaken by hand in some areas of the world. Our thirst for quick and cheap vegetation is meaning that we are using more dangerous pesticides to ensure that the biggest hauls of growths can be farmed 'unharmed' – but is it really un-harmful? No, it most certainly isn’t. This process is harming our earth’s pollinating species. Whilst we continue to keep growing, mass farming and therefore spraying more harmful toxins into our atmosphere, these pollinating communes are never going to thrive like they once did.
Why art?
So why am I reading all of this? I’m an artist what can I possibly do? Well, the very beauty of art is that it is free, we are literally allowed to create anything we want and label it art and that’s the way that we at POP^up like it. We are looking for artists of any medium to create work in response to the theme of pollination. We at POP^up have seen some amazing works and understand the impact that labelling our creations “art" can have on the public. The term pollination ought to be brought to media attention much more, however, this is not yet the case. We believe that by exhibiting a collection of different artworks in response to this crucial theme we can raise awareness and make people begin to think themselves “what can I do help pollination?”
Some buzz words to get ideas flowing could be; Pollinate, Consumption, Chemical, Habitat, Nature, Humans, Colony, Farm, News, Growth, Decline, Investigate.