The Happenings artist development commission
Reconnect & Grow is a living public installation by artist Tracey Meek, commissioned as part of The Happenings 2021 (Urban Wilderness CIC). Installed in the shop-front window of Longton Exchange from October to November 2021, the work uses bio-materials — oyster mushroom spores, bamboo canes, moss, string, wood pellets and straw — to question our relationship with nature and propose new models of symbiotic ecosystem within public art.
Inspired by the Japanese kokedama tradition (moss-ball plantings) and the concept of organic growth in urban spaces, the sculptures evolve visibly over time in their location. Visitors watched the pieces breathe, expand and change in the window/gallery context — an invitation to slow down, wonder and reconnect with more-than-human life.
The work positions nature not as a backdrop for human art, but as an active collaborator in the public realm. Its materials, textures and processes reference regeneration, transformation and the possibility of living systems within our built city. Longton Exchange’s retail context became a platform for reflection on how cities might grow, connect and change when we shift our relationship with nature.