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Poster Short Abstract

In 2024, crop trials of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) with wood biochar were co-created with gardeners in community garden settings at Oxford and Dartington, UK. The research also integrated artistic practices in performance, drawing and land art. Thus an Integrated Research Practice resulted.

Poster Abstract

In 2024, ten crop trials were undertaken in community garden settings in the UK at Oxford and Dartington. Each trial comprised an intervention plot, enriched with biochar (charcoal from wood) and planted with potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), and a matching control plot, planted with the same number and variety of potatoes without biochar. These co-created trials allowed for differing cultivation practices and growing conditions.

In two of the crop trials in Oxford and Dartington, artistic practice involving the performance of community and co-created drawings using charcoal/biochar demonstrated that embodied practices may yield artistic research and material outcomes in an Integrated Research Practice.

Documentation through photography, drawings and journals resulted which are included in this poster. Practice findings included an understanding of the challenges of this approach and the adaptations necessary for successful outcomes.

Note: An abstract for a paper describing the crop trails has been proposed for this conference under 'Paper proposal for panel T0051 at ECSA2026'. See: 'Co-created potato crop trials of biochar in community garden settings' by Andrew Wood and Karl Wallendszus.