“Nanofarming” with Artist Bryony Romer
Posted: November 11th, 2009 | Author: Derek Denckla
Do you dream of growing lettuce on a lampost? Radish on powerlines? Bryony Romer does.
Recently, I visited with artist Bryony Romer to talk with her about her installation “Nanofarming” at the J.J. Byrne Park at 5th Avenue and Third Street, right in front of the Old Stone House in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY which was part of “Brooklyn Utopias?” curated by Katherine Gressel during September and October 2009.
She took me on a walking tour of her idea for farming forgotten spaces to produce food.
I asked her why Nanofarming was an art project rather than a science experiment. ”Nanofarming is both an art and a science. What artists bring to the dialogue is a visualization of the impossible. That’s not what most scientists do. Maybe physicists.”
Why lamposts?
Growing food in New York City is a challenge because of all the shade from buildings. Plants need lots of light to thrive. That’s why I thought of planters on lamposts because they are sited to provide light. I wanted the installation to remind people that there are all sorts of places to grow food that are only limited by a lack of imagination.
For her project, Romer used humble, everyday materials to communicate her message that farming is possible anywhere by anyone. Romer raised the lettuce, radish, mustard greens and pole beans from seed at home. She then planted the seedlings in salvaged, repurposed soda bottles cut off at the top and filled with planting media.
“The only drawback was that I had to water alot. Next time, I would install a reservoir to draw moisture from underneath. Nanofarming II! Watering was good for community engagement because I had to get up on a ladder. Everyone who walked through the park wanted to know what on earth I was doing.”
The results are stunning. As you can see, the plants are thriving and getting lots of sun. The radishes were pushing out of the tops of the containers.
On November 3, 2009, Romer de-installed the farm and harvested the food. I will keep you posted if she has another iteration of this radical style of urban farming in the future. Until then, I reproduce below Romer’s Nanofarming Manifesto in its entirety. I hope that you are inspired to grow sweet peas on your window screens and tomatos on traffic lights.
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Thanks Derek! When I de-installed/harvested, I shared with the Old Stone House master gardener Claudia Joseph my vision of pole beans climbing the lamp posts, and she thought she might just plant beans at the base of the poles next summer. Nanofarming is catching on!
Hmm. A salad by salad approach! But how to successfully cultivate olive & lemon groves in the rare thoroughfare medians & our in-temperate climate?
Thanks for including this and “Brooklyn Utopias?” in your blog!! Let’s talk more about collaborating when I get back into town. It’s also great that the nanofarming idea is catching on…maybe at next year’s B.U. we can grow even more of them!