For our 2021 Arts Commission we were delighted to team up with the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery (RAMM) on a fascinating and thought-provoking new collaboration seeking to uncover the complex ecology and cultures that surround the art of cider making.

The project - called Here’s to Thee - was led by internationally renowned artist Simon Pope and saw him collaborate with a team of creative practitioners and University of Exeter academics to explore the more-than-human ecology and cultures around cider-making.

Artists who collaborated with Simon during the project included Jim Causley, singer/songwriter; Abigail North, ceramic artist; Bill Murray, folk-singer; Robert Darch, photographer; Kaye Winwood, artist & gastronome; Bevis Bowden, film-maker; and Mariners Away, shanty crew.

Together, they worked on seminars, performances, video diaries, printed matter, live events, folk songs and audio-recordings, ceramic vessels, a film, museum displays, and more.

Originally set to run for the 2020/2021 academic, due to the global pandemic the project was extended until July 2022.

The Project

Cider-farms are rich and complex ecologies, where people, other species, and abiotic natural and synthetic things come into contact with each other; plastic vats, oak barrels, submersible pumps, a range of apple tree species, lichens, farm animals, soil, agricultural policy, food health and safety regulations, all produce what we know as ‘farmhouse cider’.

A programme of public events and displays, hosted by the University, RAMM and project partners, allowed audiences to discover more about the rich and fascinating world of microbiomes and better understand how we are all connected with our environment.

One of several events programmed was a new form of wassail. Wassailing is the ancient custom of visiting apple orchards in mid-Winter to carry out certain rituals which are meant to ensure a good apple-harvest later in the year. These rituals include walking from tree to tree, singing a wassail song and reciting an incantation as well as drinking mulled cider from a communal wassail bowl.

You can listen to recordings of the 2020 wassail at Grays Cider Farm featuring Simon and singer/songwriter Jim Causley below.

The Halstow Wassail

"Here's to thee Old Apple Tree," we declaim to the apple tree, every year on Old Twelfth Night, as part of traditional wassail celebrations. But who else takes part in cider-making? What of the yeasts, living "wild" on the apple skins, in the soil, and barn walls, that are vital to the fermentation process?

In January 2022, people came together at Halstow Farm, home of Gray's Devon Cider for a new type of wassail celebrating microbial ecology.

This was the second gathering of this type (following the first Halstow wassail in 2020) and featured artistic contributions by various project collaborators including a new song peformed by Jim Causley, Bill Murray and Mariner's Away as well as a new wassail bowl created by Abigail North.

To document the proceedings, filmmaker Bevis Bowden collaborated with Simon to create a record of the event. You can watch the film here

Collaboration with the University of Exeter

Harry G West, Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director for the University of Exeter's Centre for Rural Policy collaborated with Simon. Together they considered the project in the context of the field of food studies, and in particular, in its relation to 'the terroir idea' – the conjunctions of product, people and place.

In the video below, Harry introduced the project and told us more about how Simon would be working with university academics, researchers and students throughout the project.

The impact of COVID-19 on the Project

The impact that tiny organisms, invisible to the naked eye, can have on daily life is much better understood by the general public since COVID-19 struck. Microscopic life, whether viral or microbial, cannot be ignored. COVID-19 and its impacts were incorporated into Pope’s work over the duration of the project, influencing the content as well as the practicalities of working together safely and observing social distancing laws and guidance.

Video Diaries

Throughout the commission Simon kept a series of video diaries documenting his experiences and creative processes. You can view these below.

Poster Artworks

Throughout 2020 and 2021, Simon created two different posters inspired by his conversations with academics at the University alongside his own interests and research.

Poster 2: The Cider-Making Year

The second poster (below) is double sided and was printed in June 2021. It is a celebration of the cider-making year. On the front (right) Simon has highlighted some of the key dates for both the microbial life and the people invovled in the cider-making process, from when it begins in mid-October right through to picking, fermentation and maturation. In between this he has also highlighted some of the saint days and folkways that also make up part of the process, simultaneously bringing together the science and art of cider-making.

On the reverse of the poster (left) Simon has devised a 'hexafoil charm' based on those inscribed on the walls of Gray's Cider Farm in Halstow, Devon. The six overlapping circles are usually used to protect a person, property or crop. For this poster Simon has used to these to represent the microbial and animal life which come together and contribute to the process of turning apple juice into cider. You can watch Simon full vieo diary on the creation of this poster here.

Both posters are available to purchase from the RAMM website here.

Display at Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM)

A series of works relating to the project went on display in the RAMM in January 2022. On display in the Core Wall at the centre of the museum are a selection of communal drinking vessels from RAMM’s collections, alongside contemporary works made in response to wassailing events held at Gray’s cider farm in Halstow, in 2020 and 2022.

These include a wassail bowl by ceramic artist Abigail North for the January 2020 Wassail, photography by Robert Darch, and a new film by Bevis Bowden, recording the second Halstow wassail.

Project Funders

Here's to thee is supported by the University of Exeter, the Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Arts Council England, Canada Council for the Arts and Gray’s Devon Cider.