David Nash's 1983 Sod Swap Echoed by Mike Perry's Reverse Sod Swap Four Decades Later
In 1983, a noteworthy project named Sod Swap involved transporting 83 pieces of grass from Cae'n y Coed in the Ffestiniog valley to Kensington Gardens in London. An area measuring eight meters wide was cleared from the park near the Serpentine Gallery to accommodate the Welsh turf, which was later returned to its origin. Recently, photographer Mike Perry has explored this theme anew through Reverse Sod Swap, relocating an equal number of turf pieces between Springfield Park in Hackney and Pembrokeshire. Both projects highlight ongoing challenges related to biodiversity in the UK, illustrating contrasting outcomes over the decades.
Key facts
- In 1983, David Nash created Sod Swap, exchanging turf between Kensington Gardens and Cae'n y Coed in the Ffestiniog valley
- 83 hunks of turf were cut from Cae'n y Coed and delivered by open-topped truck to Kensington Gardens
- A ring of turf eight metres in diameter was removed from the park beside the Serpentine Gallery and trucked to north Wales
- More than 40 years later, Mike Perry restaged the work as Reverse Sod Swap
- Perry exchanged exactly the same amount of turf between Springfield Park in Hackney, east London, and pastureland in Pembrokeshire
- The reverse swap produced strikingly different results from the original
- The twin works have acquired new relevance amid Britain's biodiversity crisis
- The swaps reveal a striking reversal in the fortunes of urban and rural nature
Entities
Artists
- David Nash
- Mike Perry
Institutions
- Serpentine Gallery
- The Guardian
Locations
- Kensington Gardens
- London
- United Kingdom
- Cae'n y Coed
- Ffestiniog valley
- Wales
- Springfield Park
- Hackney
- Pembrokeshire