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CULTIVAR 1999.
Natalie Taylor , Jill Raggett, Senior Horticulturist at Writtle College.
6m x 4m x 3mSci/Art collaboration commissioned by Wysing Arts, Cambridge as part of Wider View, 1999.

Greenhouse, 18 Heirloom varieties of Tomato, 8 catapults, 12v battery, electrical equipment including movement sensitive switches, greenhouse paint.
Following a public outcry regarding genetically modified food crops being cultivated in the U.K., this installation responded to the gap between new scientific techniques and society's understanding and acceptance of them.
The Tomato plants are set within an apparently complex and mysterious system of movement sensitive switches and electrically operated catapults. These heirloom varieties, often no longer commercially grown, were given the chance to alter their environment by triggering the switches. These in turn were set to detonate the paint throwing catapults at the glass house walls, reducing the amount of harsh Summer light, and offering a safer environment. The outcome of the three months' duration was that the plants were unable to defend themselves from the ever increasing ferocity of the light.