Replanting Dundee
A new urban orchard connects city and country, and citizens with their past
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Dundee’s population long served as a labour force for agriculture in the rural hinterland — seasonal work picking berries and potatoes is fondly remembered by older generations. Today many of Dundee’s poorest communities live at the edge of the city and countryside, beyond the ring road. In recent years, projects such as Dundee Urban Orchard have sprung from collaborations between artists, community groups and natural heritage organisations. Founders Jonathan Baxter and Sarah Gittins explain.
Dundee Urban Orchard (or DUO) is best described as a socially engaged artwork. This means the project strikes a balance between ‘symbolic’ and ‘actual’ practice within the arts. It also means we work across disciplines, in this case art and horticulture.
Traditional artforms are best described as symbolic forms of representation. They don’t make actual, concrete changes in the world. They provide a space (or object) for thinking about, and experiencing, the world. Socially engaged artworks move into a more activist practice, they provide a space for thinking about the world by implementing changes within the world. In the case of DUO we decided to plant real orchards in Dundee. Thus changing the actual urban infrastructure of the city.
DUO was set up to respond to a number of challenges. Firstly, could artists play a more active role in the city? Could we use our creative skill-set to reframe ‘problems’ and turn them into ‘opportunities’?
One problem is the perception that art is made by artists to be displayed in a gallery, and that most people aren’t interested in, or don’t have access to, this sort of art. This diminishes art and the wider cultural opportunities that art opens up. It also diminishes the role of the artist.
Another problem is that most cities are cut off from their wider region; city boundaries, council policies and the way we tell the history of the city tend to restrict our sense of belonging. (This is something that Patrick Geddes sought to address but that many urban and regional planners struggle to realise.)
A third problem — related to the above — is that most people living in the city are also cut off from any direct participation in, and knowledge of, where their food comes from. We saw this problem as an opportunity to address what Carolyn Steel calls ‘The Hungry City’. What if artists used their skill-set to reimagine the city through the metaphor of an orchard? Perhaps we could create a participatory artwork that prioritised social and environmental wellbeing — over economic development — by planting a network of small-scale cultural orchards across the city.
In addition to planting the orchards we imagined running art workshops on site (and outwith gallery settings). This would allow us to focus on biodiversity and cultural diversity and open up opportunities for orchard groups to reconnect with their wider region. We could highlight the orchard revival taking place in The Carse of Gowrie, for example, or the historic significance of orchards in Newburgh (dating back to the twelfth century).
Since 2013 we’ve had our work cut out for us! So far we’ve planted 25 small-scale orchards across the city.
We’ve also framed the project in the context of food sovereignty and in doing so we’ve learnt more about food poverty in Dundee and the wider geo-political challenges facing our global food future.
In terms of the nuts and bolts — or roots and fruits — of the project there are six overlapping strands:
1. Most obviously, the planting of orchards. This involves on-the-ground research, visiting people and sites, and talking with community groups. Once a site has been located we then work with each orchard group to design the orchard — sometimes this is simple, sometime more complicated, especially if we have to negotiate access to land or build a temporary growing space. Either way, once the orchard is designed we then plant the orchard: always with others and always with an emphasis on learning skills, sharing knowledge and enjoying the process.
2. Having planted an orchard we introduce art workshops exploring orchard biodiversity and cultural diversity. Here we use printmaking and other techniques — for example, collage, batik, and mosaic — to create accessible art workshops that share skills and encourage people to reimagine the city through the metaphor of an orchard. (As well as our own workshops we’ve also worked with a storyteller and two dancers to create a story and a dance for the Orchard City.)
3. Alongside the workshops we create exhibitions that take place in art galleries and community venues. In Dundee we’ve been touring a series of Orchard City screenprints in galleries, community centres and libraries since 2014. Beyond the city we’ve had exhibitions in Edinburgh, Brighton and Milan.
4. Maintenance and care has also been integral to the project. To this end we made a tacit agreement with Dundee City Council not to plant orchards with individuals who couldn’t demonstrate a long-term commitment to their orchard’s maintenance and care. To help with this legacy we provide maintenance and care workshops — for example, pruning and complementary planting — for each orchard group. We also visit the orchards on a regular basis to check on their progress.
5. The fifth strand of the project is best described as celebration. We’ve embedded celebration throughout the project. Most recently this culminated in Dundee’s first city-wide Community Harvest at the University of Dundee Botanic Garden.
6. The final (and reoccurring) strand of the project consists of evaluation and dissemination. We need to reflect on what we do, the strengths and weaknesses of the project, and we need to share this learning with others. This can be done through blogs — like this one — talks and further exhibitions etc. We can even think about our work in terms of research: what can others learn from the project? How can we create a culture of food sustainability through community participation? Afterall, as Picasso once said, ‘I never made a painting as a work of art, it’s all research’
In conclusion, it’s fair to say that DUO has had a positive impact in the city. But as with all urban interventions, artistic or otherwise, its future is precarious. Will the Orchard City concept be adopted by planners and policy makers in the city? Can Dundee City Council provide appropriate support structures to meet the Scottish Government’s recommendations for urban growing and food sustainability? That’s something we’re currently working on. But we do hope that in 100 years from now people will still be enjoying real fruit from local orchards like this one in Dundee.
