The Beans at Two Queens

An installation in artist-run gallery Two Queens which ran from May to July and was supported by Arts Council England. It illustrated the significance of legumes in traditional Leicestershire peasant farming and contained living systems (a bean germination nursery running on solar power, a bathtub wormery, fermenting vinegars, a hacked drainpipe harvesting rainwater inside the gallery) that transformed over the course of the exhibition. The bean plants were shared with local growers, neighbours and businesses, who then returned seeds to a Bean Bank at the end of the season. At the opening, farmers from Stanford Hall CSA surprised visitors by singing landworking songs, and the artist served his homemade dandelion mead.