Vivarium
/vīˈve(ə)rēəm/
pl. vi·var·i·ums or vi·var·i·a
Noun. Latin for “place of life.”
An enclosed environment in which plants or animals are raised and grown.
For two months Nic Green (as self-appointed artist in residence) inhabited the New Victoria Gardens, a hidden allotment site just off Albert Drive.
Weaving together the historical, the ecological and the sociological, and using field recordings as a basis to create experience rather than simply document it, Vivarium is an audio piece for one person at a time taking place inside the walls of the Gardens.
Responding to stories and observations collected in relation to the central question, “What Grows Here?”, this work rejoins delicately with its place, its past and its community and attempts, through the experience of listening, to invite the first hand perception of relationships existing and unfolding between these aspects, through the listener’s experience of the work.
Narrated by a six year old girl, the piece responds to the complex nature of this extraordinary aspect of Pollokshields heritage, by guiding the listener through a time-based experience in which the perceived dualisms of people/place, past/present, time/space, audience/performer are conflated and recast as indistinguishable facets in the experience of place.
Film by Johnny Barrington
Vivarium Audio Tracks
Vivarium Process Images
Vivarium Exhibition Images
To create Vivarium, Nic collaborated with: The New Victoria Gardens committee and plot holders / Fiona Sutherland / Hilary Stanger / Stephen Macauly / Morgan Macauly / Aster Macauly / Matthew Moodie / Laura Moodie / Beth Mallon / Norman Smith / Dorothy Allan / Grace Miller / Saoirse Miller / Rachel Brennan / Eadie Brennan / Seoras Brenan / Ali Lord / Paul Turnbull / Owen Turnbull
Process and exhibition images by Alan Dimmick