Subject - Philips Park’s micro-climate to be studied for groundbreaking science and art project

Philips Park’s micro-climate to be studied for groundbreaking science and art project

Natural History Museum and Futuresonic festival team up with local people to explore the mystery of park’s apparent ‘cold corridor’.

People in East Manchester have the chance to contribute to unique environmental project this weekend at Philips Park as part of this year’s Futuresonic arts festival (www.futuresonic.com). Environmental artist Christian Nold has joined forces with ecologists from the Natural History Museum in London and local people from East Manchester to record the plant and animal life in the park.

The process, known as ‘bio-tagging’, involves walking in a straight line between different predetermined points and recording details of all the plant, animal and insect life found along the way in minute detail. Differences in climate and weather will also be recorded. The plan is to then combine all the different strands of data and ‘map’ the bio-diversity of the park at highly detailed level.

One reason why the Natural History Museum’s scientists and Futuresonic have specifically chosen Philps Park is due to a highly unusual micro-climate that they suspect exists in the vicinity. Thermal imaging seems to indicate that there is a permanent cool air stream that flows through the park which could be causing significant temperature variations. Even areas just a few hundred metres from each other could experience significant differences in temperature, which in turn could have a major impact on wildlife and plants.

But in addition to helping the Natural History Museum understand the possible impact of temperature variation with cities more clearly, the project will be filmed and the participants interviewed by Christian. The film will then be turned into a special video installation and will go on show at the prestigious Futuresonic contemporary art exhibition being held at Cube Gallery, Manchester city centre, in mid-May.

Futuresonic’s Pete Abel said of project: “If you look at a thermal image of Greater Manchester you can make out what appears to be a patch of cooler air that sits over the Philips Park area. When this type of temperature variation occurs it is almost unique to modern cities, but scientists are still trying to calculate the ecological impact this phenomena has on bio-diversity. To do this requires the manual collection of very detailed data which is why we want local people to help us capture every insect, daisy and leaf within specific zones around the park.

“However, this isn’t just a boring science exercise which involves just taking a lot of notes. Christian and other Futuresonic staff will be encouraging everyone taking part to record their own specific data in a fun and creative way and to actively contribute to the special film being made to be shown at the international Futuresonic art exhibition in a few weeks time.”

There are still two bio-tagging workshops with spaces available being held on Saturday May 2nd and Sunday May 3rd. Groups and individuals are welcome to join but places are limited and people must register with Futuresonic before attending. If interested please contact Pete via email, pete@futureeverything.org, or by phone on 07951 642858.

See also www.futuresonic.com/biotagging