Intertidal Allotment is long-term project by Andrew Merritt, one half of the artist duo Something & Son, creating a functional artwork and new community allotment on the north coast of Sheppey.
The project takes inspiration from the traditional allotment form and expands it into the intertidal zone – the area of the seashore covered at high tide and uncovered at low tide – where tidal movements create a ‘Goldilocks effect’, allowing biodiverse habitats to form and a variety of organisms, including algae, seaweeds, funguses, edible flora, barnacles, limpets, mussels, crustaceans mosses and lichens, to thrive.
Unique egalitarian spaces, allotments are a rare example of self-build architecture that reuses waste materials. The coast is an area where the sea meets the land, a place of great energy, constant change and rich biodiversity. Intertidal Allotment seeks to embrace these qualities, creating a hospitable environment for people to mix, and new ideas to seed and grow.
Engaging communities in sustainable food production and biodiversity, the allotment seeks to revitalise traditional methods of food production that have long been part of local coastal heritage and reconnect communities with the land and sea. The aim is to create a modular and sustainable system that responds to the needs of local people, and which can be replicated in other coastal locations.
Supported by The National Lottery Community Fund through their Climate Action Fund, including a recent £150,000 grant, a two year programme of consultation and collaboration with Isle of Sheppey residents will explore this innovative new model. This spring a series of walks and workshops explored the project’s ideas and the natural beauty of Sheppey’s coastline, and later this year we will be experimenting with different forms and structures. Next year we will install a variety of prototypes on the coastline, enabling the impact on the local community and ecosystem to be closely monitored.
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Intertidal Allotment is being delivered in partnership with a range of national and local organisations, including Ideas Test, Swale Borough Council, and Sheppey Matters. The prototype will be monitored by students from the School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent.
The project is kindly supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and The National Lottery Community Fund. With additional support from Ideas Test, Swale Borough Council, and Kent County Council.
Between March and May 2024, Seagrocers made appearances in Sheerness town centre.
This tongue-in-cheek artwork acted as an information point for Intertidal Allotment, inviting people to imagine the possibilities for a new community allotment in the intertidal zone.
Seagrocers borrowed the form of a fruit and veg market stall, popping up in the town centre on market days.
Andrew Merrit is one half of Something & Son, alongside Paul Smyth. Merrit’s work explores social and environmental issues via everyday scenarios, criss-crossing the boundaries between the visual arts, architecture and activism.
Through permanent installations, functional sculptures and public performance, works provide a framework or foundation for communities and ecologies to build upon.
Find out more here.
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