The Great Challenge A Schools' Adventure from The House of Fairy Tales March 2018
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The Great
Challenge
a
House
of
Fairy Tales
A Schools’ Adventure from
The House of Fairy Tales initiative
for
Primary
March 2018 schools
Have you ever wished ... We would love to invite your school
to take part in the first year of
Why Turkish Tulips?
Everyone knows that tulips come from Holland. Except that they don’t.
... that your school could be more creative and inspiring? Tulips actually originate in the mountains of Central Asia and were
The Great Challenge first appreciated by Persian poets and first cultivated by Turkish Sultans
... that the day could be more cross=curricular?
This year we are piloting the Challenge to schools within a 50-mile in the Ottoman Empire.
... that students could take more charge of their own learning, radius of The Bowes Museum. It will subsequently be promoted Turkish Tulips is a fascinating project exploring the history,
geography, economics, science and philosophy of Europe, the Middle
following their interests, talents and abilities? throughout the UK.
East and Asia. Spanning all the curriculum subjects, the metaphor of
We would love you to pioneer it for us.
... that students’ experience in school was more relevant to their future lives? this simple but symbolic flower follows the Silk Road trade routes
... that it was possible to learn science through art and music through maths,
Why schools near established between the Chinese, Persian, Indian and Roman
The Bowes Museum? empires, focuses on the incredible popularity of tulips during the
history through physical exercise and vice versa? Ottoman Empire and examines their arrival into Europe during
The Museum will be hosting two exhibitions, created by the Dutch Golden Age, moving on to consider globalisation,
... that you could teach your students to occasionally fail gloriously, The House of Fairy Tales, from July to November 2017 ... migration and associated ecological and environmental challenges.
instead of always succeed with mediocrity? We are inviting children, young people and their teachers to explore
Have you ever wanted ...
these ideas through a diverse array of material and then make a creative
response to what they have just investigated. These responses will be
exhibited in The Bowes Museum in County Durham, as well as on a
... to throw away the constraints of the curriculum for a day? dedicated website thinkingkits.org.
At the end of the project we will have a very special celebration
The Clockwork Garden is an immersive and interactive adventure trail of the results. This includes workshops where classes with brave and
If the answer to any of these is ‘yes’ ... in the gardens of The Bowes Museum, with mechanical artworks,
whirring installations, strange animations and a puppet theatre.
curious responses, selected by The House of Fairy Tales’s artists,
collaborators and provocateurs, work to develop their ideas. The
Broadly aimed at Primary school-age children and their families, celebration also launches all schools’ creative responses exhibition.
... then your school should take part in
it opened on 29 July, the same day as Turkish Tulips, an exhibition of Once these have been developed into plays, puppet shows, films,
The Great Challenge contemporary tulip artworks curated by Gavin Turk.
Turkish Tulips is displayed as an art trail throughout the spectacular
exhibitions, musical compositions, engineering models, etc., they will
be selected for national exhibition spaces as well as presented in the
... a glorious experiment for schools near The Bowes Museum collections of The Bowes Museum. schools themselves.
Turkish Tulips Week Artists involved include What is a Thinking Kit?
Fiona Banner Nancy Fouts Cornelia Parker
From the 5–8 March 2018 our Thinklab, with its occupants Brave Sir Peter Blake Yinka Shonibare Thinking Kits are custom-made ‘creativity’ packs designed by our team of artists, in partnership with a particular organisation or institution.
Anya Gallacio
and Curious, will be on standby to work with schools to deliver Rob and Nick MBE They bring inspiring history, stories, science and games into schools and homes throughout the country. Each Kit’s content is inspired by real events
Tom Gallant
The Great Turkish Tulip Challenge. Carter Sarah Staton and places, with the option that children and their teachers/parents can visit the exhibitions to enrich the learning experience.
Benjamin Grant
Helen Chadwick Gavin Turk This is a brand new initiative for the charity but we have a history of delivering successful and exciting projects with schools, including
Mustafa Hulusi
For two days during that week each school will be transformed into a Gordon Cheung Philippa Waterwheel with The Thames Festival in 2010, where we worked with 104 schools across every Greater London borough. The project resulted in
Damien Hirst van Loon
giant flower bed of learning. Every classroom will become a Thinklab Mat Collishaw 1,881 unique child-generated Think Spaces being uploaded to the website: www.waterwheel.org.uk
Georgie Hopton Jim Hollingworth
where students investigate and refill their Thinking Rooms through Michael
Charles Jones
cross-curricular and child-led sessions. Craig-Martin
Adam Dant Liliane Lijn
Paul Sakoilsky
Dave Swindells
What’s in the Turkish Tulips Thinking Kit?
Every student will be given different challenges in every different Rory McEwen Jojo Tulloh for each student for teachers
subject from literature, mathematics and science to drama and
The Bowes Museum/Turkish Tulips edition of Teachers Thinking Kit Guide
PE. All normal curricula will be suspended for a couple of glorious
The HoFT Examiner newspaper making it easy to use the Kit in every classroom and helping teachers to
immersive days filled with horticulture, economics, history and science.
full of inspiring information, art, stories, facts, myths, legends, navigate through the Challenge.
Students will find out about our fascinating European History
investigations, challenges, puzzles and games – the results of our cross-
from the perspective of the entrepreneurial traders who travelled the Project Advocate’s Booklet
curricular research to enable learning through play
Silk Road and our wonderful legacy from Rumi and the philosophers, supporting school management and project champions to lead the
cultural thinkers and horticulturists from Turkey, Syria and what we in Thinking Guide school through the Challenge
the West call The Middle East or Arabia. In the regions of the world Enter The House of Fairy Tales to discover a series of
for the school
that now more often symbolise oil, war and refugees we discover the Thinking Rooms. From sound studio to stage, laboratory
Posters, stickers and tulip-related promotional material
rich heritage of the Arabic and Turkish world. to library, there is a room for everyone, each full of
for use within the school
They will learn about the foundations of the Enlightenment Thinking Experiments – challenges, tasks and
suggestions for further exploration Information sheet
in Europe and the Dutch Golden Age, when traditional religious
for parents and carers to involve them in the Challenge
teachings were challenged by the new discoveries of scientific thinking, Think Space
astronomy and evolution, leading to the establishment of our culture of A sheet for each student to show how they Pack of cards
learning through museums and universities. can think for themselves about what they’ve learned custom-made by artist Adam Dant
and experienced
Yinka Shonibare MBE, Tulip Field, 2016,
digital print with hand-applied gold foil, 42 × 30cm
TULIPS AND THE DUTCH GOLDEN AGE
TULIPS IN THE EAST
TULIPS AND THE DUTCH GOLDEN AGE
As we have just seen, the mood in
Europe from the end of the 16th century
through the 17th was one of insatiable
TULIPS
was the beating heart of this financial
and cultural wealth accumulation thanks
to the Dutch East India company lead
IN THE WEST
of intellectual, cultural, scientific as
well as military knowledge with the
universities and institutes fed by the
our humble flower took root in Europe
and sprouted within the intellectual,
aesthetic and colonial thinking of the
How will it work in my school? Thinking Rooms
OVERVIEW curiousity, mixed with an appetite for
private trade and commerce. Amsterdam
by the van Loon Family. The by-product
of this financial wealth was a blossoming
entrepreneurial spirit of the middle class
traders. It was against this backdrop that
Dutch identity.
TULIPS ARRIVE
IN EUROPE
TWO OF EUROPE’S FIRST BOTANISTS:
‘A strange and outlandish plant!’ The Great Turkish Tulip Challenge would work fantastically well if After students have explored the subjects and themes they are
Conrad Gesner – a controversial polymath ‘I never managed to
TULIPS IN THE EAST
the entire school took part because there will be more excitement and invited to make a creative response through one of the following
grow such a good beard
Born in 1516 Gesner was a Swiss the tulip.
as Rembert – but my
naturalist, botanist, physician, classical Born, in 1516 in Zurich, he tulips were always
linguist and bibliographer as well as attended the Cathedral School of his more spectacular.’
a fine plantsman. He is also a serious hometown where his best friend was During the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent,
contender as the father of modern Georg Joachim Rheticus. Rheticus Rembert Dodoens the Turks began to cultivate the tulip and
mountaineering. would gain everlasting fame as the The renowned scholars Rembert breed more varieties. These Istanbul Tulips
inclusion throughout the school. Thinking Rooms. There are suggestions and ideas on every page of
In 1559 he first saw the tulip flowering man who persuaded Copernicus Dodoens (Dodonaeus) and his younger looked much more elegant than their wild
in the garden of a magistrate in Ausburg, to publish De Revolutionibus – the colleague Carolus Clusius were among Carolus Clusius predecessors. The most sought after tulip
Germany. His painting and description seminal work where he described his the first to treat the study of plants Clusius (1526-1609) travelled widely in was almond shaped with six slender petals.
of the flower, which he called Tulipa controversial theory that the earth as a true science. Dodonaeus’s most search of unknown plants and maintained To enhance their beauty the tulips were
turcarum, is the first known illustration revolved around the sun not the other important book is his Cruydeboeck. contacts with botanists all over Europe. In given evocative names such as ‘The Light of
Paradise’ and ‘The Matchless Pearl’. Many
A bluffer’s guide to the Ottoman and Persian Empires
of a tulip in Europe. way around. The edition of 1568 shows us the first addition to the tulip, he gave Holland the
The materials are aimed at key stage 1 and 2 but would work well their Thinking Guide that will inspire the students to come up with
That flower was short, bright red, and The two remained life long friends and illustration, a woodcut of a tulip in the ranunculus, the anemone and many other of these varieties were fragrant (unlike
waisted like the Lily Flowered Tulips of Gesner provided a refuge for Rheticus Netherlands. bulbs. While he exchanged his bulbs with contemporary tulips) and sadly are now
THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE much of Southern Europe, parts of IRAN time the geographical area expanded today. Later it was crossed with other when he suffered a mental breakdown He informs us that the tulip is not a others, it is fair to say that he helped to extinct.
was created by Turkish tribes in Anatolia Central Europe, Western Asia, the (FORMERLY KNOWN AS PERSIA) and contracted through much of what wild tulips to produce the vast range later in life. Gesner was poor and could native of this our country nor even in lay the foundation for cultivation of the
(Asia Minor) in the 13th century and Caucasus, North Africa and the Horn The name Iran comes from the Middle we know of the Middle East as well as of different tulips we now have in our not afford an education but his obvious Italy and we can also read how the tulip tulip in Holland.
grew into one of the most powerful of Africa. Persian language ‘Eran’. In 1935 Reza central Asia. gardens. One still can read his scribbled great intelligence and abilities led a got its name: from the bonnets or head- In 1593 Clusius became professor
adapted to younger and older students. original pieces of work.
states in the world during the 15th and In 1922 it came to an end, when it was Shah asked the world to call Persia ‘Iran’ notes about the flower, reproduced two series of prominent scholars to act as dresses of the Saracen (i.e. Turks). of botany and prefect of the Hortus
17th centuries. The term Ottoman, replaced by the Turkish Republic and rather than the westernised version. years later in 1561, as a wood block print his patrons enabling him to study at the In 1582 he was appointed professor of Botanicus at Leiden University, where
is derived from Osman, the nomadic several successor states in south eastern This Iranian leader came to power in in his De Hortis Germaniae Liber universities of Zurich, Straßburg and medicine at the University of Leiden, a he laid out a botanical This
garden.
wasHere
very unlike the warlike Admiral Mustafa Pasa, son-in-law of the The Tulip Period did not merely infuriated his subjects. But it was
Turkmen chief who founded the dynasty Europe and the Middle East. 1925 and founded the Pahlavi dynasty Recens: the first European illustration of Bourges. position he held until his death in 1585. tulips bloomed in thebehaviour
spring ofwhich
1594. the Ottomans had been Grand Vizier during the Tulip Period, describe the preoccupation with this Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha’s apparent
and empire circa 1300. that had a constitutional monarchy famous for (they had been besieging is remembered for forty-four new tulip particular flower, as this was also a time indifference to state affairs and the
In 1453 Mehmed the Conqueror (7th that lasted until the Iranian Revolution Vienna in 1683), as the Empire pursued breeds!) The obsession with novelty of relative political tranquility when Sultan’s hesitation in defending the
‘What joy… to marvel at
Sultan) ended the Byzantine Empire of 1979. As a bibliographer, Gesner published a policy of peace and diplomacy with and quality in tulips led to ever-greater the Grand Vizier (who effectively ran empire that led to an insurrection – the
Sixth form students would be great facilitators of this experience
the mighty masses of
with the conquest of Constantinople Iran is heir to one of the world’s the mountains, and lift his Bibliotheca Universalis Europe while indulging in hedonism and demand and a dramatic rise in prices the government) expanded diplomatic Anti-Tulip Rebellion – led by a former
(now known as Istanbul). With control oldest civilizations and has had a up one’s head… among (1545-55) in four volumes, in pleasure: ‘Let us laugh,’ wrote Ahmed’s which peaked in 1726-7. History does relations with Europe and oversaw a Janissary soldier, Patrona Halil.
Sound Studio: music, instrument-making, sound
of the city and lands around the succession of powerful and influential the clouds… strangely which he attempted to include all closest companion, the court poet, repeat itself: this was 90 years after flowering of all aspects of Ottoman
Mediterranean basin, this multinational empires from the Achaemenid Empire
52·276355°, 4·557080°
Every year, tulip fields in Lisse, Netherlands begin to bloom in March and are in peak bloom by late
excited at the amazing known literature. He feared all of Nedim, ‘Let us play, let us enjoy the the Dutch Tulip Mania but in the culture, artistically, commercially and BACK TO THE CAGE WITH HIM
and multilingual empire was central to of 550–330 bc through the Parthian, April. The Dutch produce a total of 4·3 billion tulip bulbs each year, of which 53% (2·3 billion) is grown altitude… carried away this knowledge would be lost to delights of the world to the full.’ Ottoman Empire the state successfully technologically. Both Grand Vizier Ibrahim Pasha and
all east and west interactions and trade Sasanian, Samanid, Saffarid Empires
into cut flowers. Of these, 1·3 billion are sold in the Netherlands as cut flowers and the remainder is to the contemplation of posterity, especially after the Ottomans sacked Buda (the intervened to regulate prices, with The Tulip Period is sometimes seen Grand Admiral Mustafa Pasa were
and this would help their personal and social development.
exported: 630 million bulbs to Europe and 370 million elsewhere.
for over six centuries. of the first millennium and then the
the Great Architect of
capital of Hungary) in 1526, and the famedTHE TULIP
library PERIOD & FLOWER POWER
of Mathias harsh consequences for anybody who as the Ottoman counterpart to the strangled and decapitated, their heads
the Universe.’
During the 16th and 17th centuries, at Safavid, Afsharid, Zand, Qajar Corvinus was dispersed. Ironically, Gesner’s Bibliotheca
Everyone from was
barbers and butchers to overcharged. Even so, the Empire Rococo era in Europe – some of the presented to the mob by Ahmed III in
the height of its power under Suleiman and Pahlavi Dynasties of the second the Index
used as a primary source for the Vatican’s Librorum (the most senior)
Sheikh-ul-Islam could no longer satisfy the Sultan’s own public festivals and entertainments were order to save himself. The Sultan was
Benjamin Grant’s Overview project to appreciate our home in its entirety, to developed, or the devastating impact a massive scale, or the vibrant colors
Laboratory: engineering, design, inventions
the Magnificent, the empire held sway Millennium with the Mongol Empire Prohibitorum, (the Pauline Index of banned works ofbulbs,
cultivated 1559),and the demand led demands for tulips, and millions of bulbs modelled on those which took place forced to abdicate (and obliged to return
over a huge territory. This included invasion in the 13th century. In that seeks out the effects of man on the reflect on its beauty and its fragility all at on our planet. Beholding these forces captured attract attention. Then our and was itself banned! to the most prized specimens changing were actually imported from Holland at Versailles, following an Ottoman to live in the cage!), while his successor,
The Janissaries were infantry troops that formed the Ottoman Breaking the fast at Ramadan –
Sultan’s household bodyguard surface
the strange ritual of the counterfeit of the planet as seen from space.
spoons once. That’s the cognitive shift that this as they shape our Earth is necessary thoughts go beyond the aesthetics, Conrad Gesner hands for hundreds of gold coins. Grand and France. mission to Louis XV’s France in 1720, Mahmud I, all but closed the Tulip
This is all explained and elucidated in the Teachers’ Thinking
It was inspired, and derives its name, project hopes to inspire. to make progress in understanding contemplate just exactly what it is that but it also featured the introduction of a Period’s cultural openings and European
14 from an idea known as the Overview From a line of sight on the earth’s ourselves and what is needed to sustain a
26
we are seeing, and consider what that new, delicate architecture (particularly links. The tulip festivals carried on for a
Effect. This term refers to the sensation surface, it’s impossible to fully appreciate safe and healthy planet. means for our planet. in garden houses and buildings like the while but the flood of manuscripts listing
GAVIN TURK
astronauts have when given the
opportunity to look down and view the
the beauty and intricacy of the things
that humans have constructed, the sheer
The mesmerising flatness seen
from this vantage point, the surprising
famous Ahmed II fountain); new styles
of ceramic art, and the introduction in
hundreds of varieties of the Istanbul
tulip was soon reduced to a trickle,
Garden: food, horticulture, ecology
Earth as a whole. They have the chance complexity of the systems that have been comfort of systematic organisation on 1727 of the first Islamic printing press. while the renowned blooms gradually
Kit Guide which has sections on each year group and how to
All good things come to an end disappeared into extinction. It wasn’t
The Tulip Period, as you’ve probably until the creation of Turkey after the
12
THE AESTHETICS OF TULIPS realised, didn’t end well, at least not
for the infatuated tulip fanciers. In
1730, when the Persian General Nader,
First World War that the tulip was
reinstated as the national flower.
Cave (Edition)
1995, silkscreen on plastic, 48cm (diameter) attacked Ottoman possessions in
What is Aesthetics?
encourage the students to get the most from the Challenge. Cinema: film, animation, digital
western Persia, the Ottoman leadership
Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and appreciation of art, beauty and good taste. was clearly unprepared. The inordinate
Mechanical Turk It has also been defined as ‘critical reflection’ on art, culture and nature. luxury enjoyed by the Sultan and the
2008–15, 14 mins film loop on monitor, framed, 65 x 75 x 8cm
excesses of court society may well have
ARTISTS & TULIPS
The Istanbul Tulip Festival with the Sultan Ahmed Mosque beyond (thanks to vegetariantraveller.com)
SAY IT WITH FLOWERS 19
in primary schools class teachers will deliver the content Stage: puppetry, drama
Coded language, high poetics and kitsch Mistresses of a genre The lady and the
Tulip Book
Turkish Tea
2017, giclée print, 30 x 42cm
MARIA van OOSTERWIJCK
Vase of Tulips, Rose, and Other Flowers with Insects
PRoPeRtIeS Of WaTEr
through their usual classroom practice – focusing each curriculum
1663, oil on canvas, Cincinnati Art Museum
There are three states of water:
Workshop: fashion, textiles, costumes, craft
Portrait of the Sailor Gentleman Jim
2009, oil on canvas, 58 x 45cm
Floriography or ‘The Language of and freethinker. Though very
Flowers’ is a form of cryptological much a figure of her class and time,
(coded) communication through (with ideas one may find troubling Amsterdam nurtured two important female 17th century flower
the use or arrangement of flowers. from today’s standpoint) she can still life painters: RACHEL RUYSCH and MARIA van
subject on the tulip for two days – a fantastic opportunity for child-
Meanings
Box have been attributed to be seen as a proto-feminist. She OOSTERWIJCK. The latter and elder of the two was active in ...it’s always moving between states and forms, sometimes as a gas in
2002–03, painted bronze, 32 x 31 x 46cm
flowers for thousands of years, and is responsible for introducing the Delft and, from 1673, in Amsterdam. She never married and was clouds, a solid snowflake, a liquid part of plant, an animal’s body, rock,
Attic: collecting, museums, archives
in some form floriography has been smallpox inoculation (which she used never a member of a guild.
practised by traditional cultures on her own children) to England, As a painter Maria (1630-1693 enjoyed great renown – for her and so on...
across continents. We find flowers having also discovered this in Turkey. art, naturally but also because of her gender as a painter. She JUDITH LEYSTER
put to symbolic use in the Hebrew Her Turkish Letters, published after
Over a 100 year period a drop of water spends 97 years in the
H.M.S. Pequod Spent Match Odyssey received commissions from the highest circles at home and abroad. Self Portrait
ocean, two years as ice, two weeks in lakes and rivers, and a week in
centred, cross-curricular, theme-based teaching practice.
2014, painted bronze, 1.5 x 3.7 x 3cm 2005, painted bronze, 2 x 3 x 3cm 2005, painted bronze, 5 x 5 x 70cm 1633, oil on canvas, 75 x 65cm
Bible, most obviously in Solomon’s her death as per her request, is still Her clients included the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold, Louis XIV of
Song of Songs. regarded as a classic of travel writing, France and William II Stadholder of Holland and King of England. Born into a family of weavers in
and an important historical account
the air. Sometimes it can stay in an underground pool for hundreds of
Shakespeare’s writings are full Haarlem, Judith Leyster (1609–1660)
Gavin Turk is a British artist born in commonplace but are détourned or shows in America, Asia, Australasia and bronze objects including Odyssey
of flowers put to symbolic purpose of the Ottoman Empire. years, before becoming something else and moving on in its journey.
Hall of Cartography: mapmaking, navigation
1967. He has pioneered many forms of transformed in often unexpected ways. Europe. The artist lives and works in (a dried poppy referencing John Keats’s
– in Hamlet, for instance, Ophelia, Her poetry and writing was Mondrian and the white painted tulip T H E S C I E N C Esuccessfully
A N D N Apursued
T U R A L a Hprofession
ISTORY OF TULIPS
contemporary British sculpture now Turk’s installations and sculptures London. poem The Lotus Eaters), bronze cast of
dominated by men. She became the only Imagine what the water you washed with this morning could have been
ATOMIC GARDENING IS THE BOMB
explains the meaning of pansies, known in private circles, and a little abstracts. It could, of course, have been a female member of the painters’ guild
taken for granted, including the painted deal with issues of authorship, As the inspiration for the Turkish ‘Ship’ matches and a painted bronze
rosemary, fennel, columbine, rue, as with the Interflora ad copy – ‘Say Turkish Letters, a classic of travel writing was published during her lifetime. revenge for the agony that compromise with her own workshop. before it ended up in your bath or in your body. ...what’s under yours?
bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art- authenticity and identity. Concerned Tulips exhibition Gavin Turk has placed used match. These last few are high-art
CPD Training Day
daisy and violets. Other poets and it With Flowers’ – and often borders and the first important secular Western Some was with her say so (anonymously must have cost. More likely, it was simply After her marriage in 1636 she
historical icon and the use of rubbish with the myth of the artist and a painted bronze facsimile of a tulip representations which call to mind both
writers, including novelists such as Jane on the downright kitsch. However, account of the Ottoman Empire. or under a pseudonym) but some a part of the general revulsion against moved to Amsterdam, where she and
Water is incredibly strong and can move rocks and shingle from
in art. authorship, Turk’s engagement with this box (see page 2), perhaps full of tulips human ingenuity and the vast distances It seems that exposure to radiation can poorly known, radiation breeding has
With an active international career modernist, avant-garde debate stretches about to be displayed in the Museum.
Austen, Emily and Charlotte Bronte,
travelled in the name of trade by the
its origins and early usage are more This avant-garde ‘floriographer’ was published publicly without her green and growth which made him, when her husband took up residence in the
actually be a good thing... produced thousands of useful mutants
the riverbed, but a salmon swimming up the river to
also used floriography. interesting and exotic. was also a known and gifted wit, poet, permission. She felt it unbecoming, in line seated at a table beside a window through Gasthuismolensteeg.
breed can remain stationary against the current with
Library: storytelling, literature
spanning over 25 years, the artist back through the lineage of art history. There is also a small collection of art
TULIPS IN THE EAST Dutch East India Company and other Tulips flowering and flourishing in the and a sizable fraction of the world’s
The interest in floriography in Floriography was introduced to with constraining ideas of her age (which which trees were visible, persuade
first came to public attention in 1991 His work is held in important collections and artefacts placed around the gallery more contemporary organisations. radiation-blitzed zone near Chernobyl’s crops...including varieties of rice, wheat,
Britain begins in aristocratic and upper Britain by the English aristocrat, Lady ‘There is no colour, no flower, no in other aspects she speaks out against) ‘I instinctively tried to capture
someone to change places. very little effort due to special properties in the water
with his degree show from The Royal around the world and he has exhibited including his Mechanical Turk artwork, weed, no fruit, herb, pebble, in my photographs the spirit nuclear reactor should actually come barley, pears, peas, cotton, peppermint,
class circles in the 18th century, and Mary Wortley Montagu (1689- for a lady of her class to benefit in anyway
College of Art. His work is a series of widely, with more than 50 solo shows his portrait sculpture of Gentleman Jim or feather, that has not of his paintings. He simplified,
‘The artificial tulip fitted in, of
as no surprise. Since the 1930s there sunflowers, peanuts, grapefruit, sesame, and the salmon’s streamlined shape. Water under pressure is very
became hugely fashionable in the 19th 1762) who travelled with her financially from literature. It was this, and course, with the legend of the studio as
assisted readymade objects that seem alone as well as dozens of group museum (after Van Gogh) and some painted simplified, simplified.’ have been programmes to harness the bananas, cassava and sorghum,’ wrote
a verse belonging to it;
powerful and a fine jet can cut through metal.
for Teachers and Management
century, when a great variety of flower husband the British Ambassador also some of the subject matter that made laboratory or cell, the artist as scientist
and voti. may quarrel, ANDRÉ KERTÉSZ transformational effects of radiation, William Broad in The New York Times.
dictionaries were published. In the to the Ottomans between 1717- her decide to order her Turkish Letters, to or anchorite. Mondrian felt it mattered
8 Victorian era,inwith
Persian. This
its strict epic poem
public codes was1718.
written
As an aristocratic woman
reproach, or send
only be published at her death. Say it with Chez Mondrian that an artist should present himself in a
particularly on plants. It’s one method among many different Water always flows downwards, pulled down to the centre of the
7
Letters of passion,
The process works like this. Plant forms of mutagenic breeding – seeds
POWER Playroom: traditional, digital and virtual gaming
1926, photograph
of conduct andbetween 977
morality, and
one 1010
can and consists
easily she gained entry to the famed, friendship, or civility, flowers.... manner appropriate to his artistic aims. Her last painting dates to 1643 – earth by Gravity.
man-MªDe
seeds are exposed to radiation in have also been exposed to chemicals and
see how beingof around 50,000 couplets – ifand
you’re DOWN
able to communicate otherwise secret world of
NaTuRAL
or even of news, Piet Mondrian did not appreciate at me through his glasses, he noticed ‘A photograph of him taken in a Judith Leyster Tulip Book in the Frans
wondering
secretly, especially howand
for lovers longsecret
that is, the
themost
Sultan’s harem, and it was without ever inking order that they develop mutations sent into space to experience cosmic
2 Some objects float and some sink in water depending on the
FARHAD & SHIRIN
recentgain
assignations, would
volumes.
scholarly
Since then floriography
Farhad
entirely disappeared, buthas
edition was inhere
popularity.
has not
a more
is really significant
now a
eightthat she first discovered
it in‘best
floriography. She wrote about
letters, which she would
your fingers.’
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu’s
Turkish Letters 17(L, 389)
The temple bell stops
But I still hear sound coming
out of the flowers
fresh flowers and green trees, recalled
Charmion von Wiegand, who visited
Mondrian’s New York studio in the
early 1940s:
my glance and said “I’ve arranged these
to make it more cheerful.” In his Paris
studio he had used a flower – one tulip
in a vase, an artificial one, its leaves
1908 shows a bearded floppy-haired
“Victorian” man of sensibility.
A photograph of 1911 shows a twentieth-
century technologist, clean-shaven
Hals museum in Haarlem.
with desirable traits (such as drought
Tulip books were albums put together
resistance, higher yield or early-ripening)
by one or more artists and commissioned
that can be bred with other cultivars.
by bulb merchants or well to-to-do-
radiation – and every day you’re probably
eating something which has benefitted
from radiation breeding.
& INVeÑTIon ACROSS
density of the object. For example apples float and pears sink—try this
yourself.
Persian legends about tulips such as supporting
kind of secondary thoughtactor’
at therole in ‘Khosrow
florists, and as the famous
later rewrite
_
BASHO ‘Everything was spotless white, like painted white. with centre parting and brilliantined
After the Second World War there
flower enthusiasts. Although the book
was a concerted effort to develop
So what about those Chernobyl
tulips? Might they also have actually
There are many ways to power Water is the only substance that expands when frozen. Its density
Gallery: pictures, sculptures and visual images
Farhad and Shirin date back thousands Shirin’, a famous tragic romance by the a laboratory. In a light smock, with his ‘As Mondrian was probably incapable hair; the spectacles were an inevitable bears her name, only one of the tulips –
of years, and also inspired the Iranian lyrical poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–
THE SCIENCE & NATURAL HISTORY OF TULIPS
taciturn, clean-shaven face, wearing his of irony, the tulip was unlikely to be a wry accessory. Soft and hairy becomes
peaceful uses of atomic fission energy as
De Vroege Brabantsson – can with
benefitted from irradiation? Sadly we our needs from the world around us... becomes less and so ice floats. This is how life can be preserved in lakes
Sir PETER BLAKE
Revolution of 1979.
Was it the tulip’s blood-red colour
30 1209). The latter is an elaborate fictional
version of the life of Khosrow Parviz
heavy glasses, Piet Mondrian seemed
more a scientist or priest than an artist.
joke about his having
had to produce flower
hard and smooth; one of the great
landscape-painters of his generation,
part of the Atoms for Peace programme.
certainty be credited to Judith Leyster.
It was called Atomic Gardening
Much of Leyster’s work was wrongly
or Gamma Gardening, and it was
didn’t get close enough to find out. But
if anybody reading this is feeling brave
enough to go and get another bunch, and
solar power from the sun, horse power,
wind power, nuclear power, burning fossil
WateR CINEMA
and ponds during the winter because the water stays relatively warm
under the ice which acts like a strange kind of blanket.
SCIENCE CAME LATER...
that made it such a symbolic flower for (the last great King of the Sasanian The only relief from all the white were pieces between 1922 and one of the great flower-painters attributed to Frans Hals until 1893, when
scientifically planned to help create and perhaps collect some bulbs, we’d really
On the 17 October 2017 there will be a Training Day for your team,
the people who first saw it? Many myths Empire, who reigned from 590 to 628), Calling all and
Filmdolphins
Directors and Animators
were told to explain the tulip’s beauty which made him into one of the greatest
large mat-boards, rectangles in yellow,
red and blue, hung in asymmetric
1925 when he no longer
wanted to, because there
of his generation, comes to find
trees monstrous and green fields
Hofstede de Groot first attributed seven
develop new plant cultivars (cultivated
paintings to her, six of which are signed
love to see them. fuels, steam power (which kick-started the Submarines and marine mammals such as whales
in which it was often synonymous with heroes of the culture, both as a lover and varieties). It may sound crazy, but this
Industrial Revolution), but for this project use SONAR to sense objects At the Circus webyare
underwater going out
sending to have
a sound 6 by bicycles, so all the
a cinema powered
perfection or eternity. as a king.
arrangements on all the walls. Peering were no buyers for his intolerable.’ with her distinctive monogram ‘JL’.
radiation breeding actually works.
Wilson A. BeNtlEy
we are interested in hydro (water) power...
DOWN
and listening for the echo. electricity will be generated by people power not by using up the Earth’s
How much does it cost?
The most famous fairytale associated One of the best known is the ‘Todd’s
Tulips were grown and propagated varieties and thus biodiversity for a future and cultural achievements and the
with the tulip is the legend of Farhad Mitcham’ (right) cultivar
43 of peppermint 1865-1931 resources. What we need from you is ideas for films to show on the screen.
physically and culturally in a pre- age should they become extinct in ours. exchange of knowledge and take time
which is resist to Verticillium Wilt, that 17
We are going to show water-related films and videos. But we also want to show
to launch the Challenge and get excited about its potential for the
and Shirin. The story goes that in sixth- scientific age. Even the smartest growers This last point gives us a clue to once again remember the aesthetic
was produced at Brookhaven National
century Persia a young Prince named didn’t know what they were doing as to the very real scientific fears beauty of a simple tulip flower. Nicknamed
Farhad was love-struck by a beautiful except by instinct. of climate change, our altering of Rosalie and Laboratory Atomic Garden in the USA.
It’s one of many success stories: ‘Though
The Snowflake Man,
films made by you. ...and what’s the U-bend for?
maiden called Shirin. Farhad was so
deeply devoted to Shirin that when he
KHOSROW AND SHIRIN
These days we know a huge amount
more about the science of plants and
habitats, widespread unmonitored use
of pesticides and fertilisers and other
‘A garden is a
grand teacher... the tulips this self-taught farmer from
Jericho, Vermont,
Come up with a storyboard for a short film that we could make. Do you
want to see the journey of water through Bleach kills the good bacteria
the house? What about a film about Washing
a soda used to be the most common household
was (falsely) told that she had died of a horticulture. We are at the age of the human interventions into our world. above all it
in ‘septic tanks’. cleaning product for kitchen floors and work surfaces.
sudden illness, he was overcome with This is the story of Khosrow’s love for controversial genetic engineering of This exhibition should be a moment of teaches entire using pioneering ‘pooh stick’ floating down a stream, or what about an exciting plot that revolves
students.
grief and he killed himself by hacking at the Armenian Princess Shirin, whom he trust.’ A chance meeting with an elderly lady The suds in washing powder Baking soda can be used as an oven cleaner.
crops. Our ability to transport plants reflection for us all as we look back and photography, discovered around a glass of water? Maybe we couldhavemake a short
Tulip Tulip Tulip who, despite many official requests, Pesticides, meant for used on. When the bulbs very little animation around your
cleaning value,
Tulip stories,
after Blancour, A Bowl of Flowers after van Os, Fruits and Flowers in a Terracotta his ownVase
body with an axe. after Walscapelle, Flowers in a Glass Vase first sees when she is bathing and washing around the world and exchange ideas look forward with the tools of history,
that no two snow crystals Vinegar is a good alternative to many cleaning products.
1995–96, acrylic on canvas, 21 x 21cm 1995–96, acrylic on canvas, 21 x 21cm
Where each drop of his blood fell
1995–96, acrylic on canvas, 21 x 21cm
her hair in a river. She finally becomes within the scientific community through geography, cultural curiosity and science
refused to leave her home in the attracting, seducing, are sold these pesticides get ideas. but cause lots of pollution in
radioactive zone around Chernobyl. and then destroying distributed into thousands were ever alike... Lemon juice can be used for cleaning toilets.
myths and legends
on to the barren ground, a scarlet tulip Khosrow’s queen after a long courtship ROBERT THORNTON the use of the internet has grown to help us to both understand and to hold rivers and streams.
sprang up, a symbol of his perfect and strewn with mishaps and difficulties. In any pest, are a class of gardens internationally Make a cartoon strip or storyboard showing the different scenes you would Borax can kill smells, prevent mildew and mould, and
exponentially. We even have safety back the darker forces of our nature.
Temple of Flora
After we pulled off the weed-pocked and perhaps hoping for a little earthly of biocide. and there unwittingly the Detergents contain additives remove stains. We love borax!
undying love. this tale Farhad is a sculptor . .CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 » published between 1798 and 1807
vaults with frozen seed banks to preserve We should also celebrate our human GERTRUDE JEKYLL 6 like to see in the film. Some of these whichwill be madealgæ,
encourage into an actual film.
We will be hosting a playful and brilliant day of action. We will
‘Artist, Gardener, Craftswoman’ is inscribedroad
on and begin tramping the winding romance in the cool of the evening. The most common uses of pesticides insects continue to be poisoned. Cornstarch can be used to clean windows, polish
Well, that is one version. Different because it appears in two of the most Miss Jekyll’s grave. Designed by her friendpath to her door, my memory drifted Igor reminded us that Rosalia doesn’t are as plant protection products, which There are great advances in organic using up oxygen and furniture, shampoo carpets and rugs, and starch clothes.
versions of this story appear time and famous works of Persian literature and back to the Dark Walks of old English often chat with strangers; he assured us destroy damaging influences on crop bulb production now – especially in the killing fish and plants.
and collaborator Edwin Lutyens, it is a simple Tea tree oil has disinfectant properties.
again in every culture from Turkey to culture, which influenced every person testament to a formidably accomplished pleasure gardens, some of which were that we were quite fortunate to meet production, such as weeds, fungi, or light of EU pesticide regulations so it is
8 Salt is a mild disinfectant.
As a charity we can keep costs low through cross-subsidies so the price
outfitted with freshly constructed ruins. her. And naturally we felt gratitude as insects. The trouble is, these are also vital important to choose
India, (where five different films entitled who came into contact with it. woman.
Occasionally, their owners would install she picked us tulips from her garden and for the wider eco-system. your variety and
30 ACROSS
‘Shirin Farhad’ were made between 1926 Elements of the story are based in
GROWING YOUR OWN
be exercising our capacities for being brave and curious collaborators.
and 1975). It is not only because it is a reality. Farhad is a famous character a real live ‘hermit’ whose job was to presented a bag of bread for our day, The most insidious products contain supplier wisely.
tragic tale of pure and selfless love that in Persian mythology and literature, offer benedictions of ‘Memento mori’ reminding us (via translation) how Jesus neonicotinoids, compounds which get
this story is known and retold by Persians appearing as a minor character in to revellers wandering the pathways, fed the multitudes with a few loaves. into the system of the bulbs that they are
and Kurds, Georgians, Afghanis, Parsis, Ferdowsi’s ‘Shahnameh’ or ‘King of We’ve read the top tips from the master growers... now it’s your turn... Thanks to woodlandshoppersparadise.blogspot.co.uk
is an affordable
Pashtuns and many others, but also Kings’, the most renowned poetic work 41
Tulips Tulips
£2 .50 per child
after van Huysum, Flowers in a Terracotta Vase after Van Brussel, Flowers in a Vase Did you hear the old joke about the
Between us we will be build a ‘Brave and Curious Museum’ that later
1995–96, acrylic on canvas, 21 x 21cm 1995–96, acrylic on canvas, 21 x 21cm
The seventeenth-century French traveller JEAN CHARDIN bulb? The bulb is a potential flower Plant the bulbs in an area which gets properly cold in the winter and keep Now… wait until the springtime
wrote of tulips and his travels in Persia: which is buried in the autumn, never full sunlight, as tulips perform best with cooler in the summer. parade! For a repeat performance the
Sir Peter Blake is one of the most loved artists of his generation During his residency as associate artist ‘When
at TheaNational
young man presents one to his mistress, he gives her to understand, by to be seen again. 4–6 hours of sunlight. Ensure that the Water the bulbs after planting, which following year, it’s best to top-feed the
alongside his contemporaries David Hockney and RB Kitaj. the general
Gallery from 1994 to 1996 the artist painted portraitscolour of the flower, that he is on fire with her beauty; and by the black
of tulips soil is well drained (tulips really don’t will activate the growth process. If you tulips with some bone-meal fertiliser in
Playing a crucial role in the emergence of Pop Art in Britain, his isolated from a series of famous European flower arrangements base of it, that his heart is burnt to a coal.’ To help make sure that your bulbs do like getting their feet wet). If you have don’t get an inch of rainwater in the first the autumn, forking it into the top few 39
work draws on a wide variety of sources, ranging from fairgrounds (see below). re-appear in the spring, here are some fairly heavy clay-based soil, dig in some week then make sure you water them inches (10cm) of soil.
Sample pages from edition of
15
and comic books to playfully referenced images from the history of These very specific portraits were shown at Tate Liverpool in guidelines to get your garden (or plant organically-rich compost and maybe also some more to give them a good start. Hey presto!
in the day we will explore as the foundation for a conversation about
art. He is known for co-designing the iconic cover for the Beatles’ 2007 in Peter Blake: A Retrospective and have been loaned to us for pot) tulips blooming. some sand. If you’ve got the time and the Now, that was easy wasn’t it?
Sgt. Pepper album cover with his then wife Jann Hawarth. the Turkish Tulips project. Once you have chosen and ordered As a general rule, bulbs should be patience, then consider over-planting
The HoFT Examiner Students’ Think Space contributions
your tulips, store the bulbs in a cool, dry planted three times the depth of their large-leaved perennials such as peonies
place, ideally in a shed or in a fridge own height (so larger bulbs get deeper around the tulips, as these will “Under the microscope, I found
(make sure bulbs are not placed next to holes), and four to six inches (10–15cm) keep the plants cooler that snowflakes were miracles
ripening fruit as these release a gas that apart. If you prefer precision, aim in summer. of beauty; and it seemed a
newspaper produced on the Waterwheel website, how we can bring these capacities to bear in the classroom and how to which covers all resources, teachers’ packs and promotional material as
could destroy the bulb’s flower bud). to plant the bulbs 8–9 inches (20–23 shame that this beauty should
Aim to plant the bulbs about two centimetres) deep. This will ensure not be seen and appreciated
months before the first hard frost, that the bulbs get by others. Every crystal was a
so between late September and mid- masterpiece of design and no
November, depending on
your location. for the Turkish Tulips one design was ever repeated.
When a snowflake melted, that and pages from the Waterwheel
inspire them in students. well as delivery charges – including all content detailed above.
design was forever lost. Just that
Thinking Guide
much beauty was gone, without
5 36
exhibition in Amsterdam 16
leaving any record behind.”
Who are we? Sir Peter Blake, Tulip
after Walscapelle,
Flowers in a
The House of Fairy Tales is a child-centred, Glass Vase,
1995–96,
artist-led organisation established in 2006, by artists acrylic on canvas,
21 × 21cm
Gavin Turk and Deborah Curtis. We have had
charitable status since 2011 to ensure our work is affordable to all while
delivering the highest possible quality of production and content.
We aim to bring more engagement, learning and creativity into
all communities, cultures and socio-economic backgrounds across all
intelligences, interests and talents. We draw on our extensive network
of artists, performers, writers, educationalists, designers, musicians,
film-makers, dreamers and philosophers to provide narrative-driven
experiences for thinking and experimentation. Let us know if you would like your
Operating across a number of formats from interactive events, school to be part of this Challenge...
workshops, exhibitions, publishing, advocacy and education packs, Your early response will ensure you are sent a sample
The House of Fairy Tales creates partnership projects which are Thinking Kit pack as soon as they are produced. Numbers are
inclusive, inventive and fun whilst inspiring lateral and divergent limited so express your interest now to be first on the list...
thinking and creativity in children of all ages.
www.houseoffairytales.org The House of Fairy Tales
0203 603 6166 tulips@houseoffairytales.org
www.houseoffairytales.org/TurkishTulips
See also:
Partnerships thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Exhibitions/2017/Turkish-Tulips
thebowesmuseum.org.uk/Exhibitions/2017/The-Clockwork-Garden
Over the years we have worked in partnership with over 50 institutions
from festivals and public events to museums, galleries and trusts. Thanks to:
These partnerships have included Tate, National Trust, RHS,
Royal Shakespeare Company, Thames and Edinburgh Art Festival,
Glastonbury and many more.You can also read
