Arcadia at Mason, Official Launch!

20 Nov Arcadia at Mason, Official Launch!

ARCADIA

A PUBLIC ARTWORK BY SAM NESTER 

PRESENTED BY MURALS AT MASON, MASON EXHIBITIONS

Location: President’s Park Hydroponic Greenhouse, Building 26 on campus map

On-site viewing outside the greenhouse: Available via Twitch beginning November 20, and outside Greenhouse BYO headphones/speaker

Live stream: 24 hours a day via Twitch beginning 11/20 twitch.tv/masonarcadia

go.gmu.edu/arcadia 

Arcadia is a year-long public art project using sensors and computer software to translate the natural biorhythms of medicinal and edible plants into a stream of ever-changing music and light. 

Arcadia may be experienced live online 24-hours a day at twitch.tv/masonarcadia or from outside the greenhouse following Mason’s social-distancing guidelines. 

Bridging art, nature, and human awareness Arcadia is a virtual meditation and research platform for the Mason community. Workshops will be offered by the Center for Well-Being and Counseling and Psychological Services. Arcadia will also be utilized for student and faculty research on plant propagation, food security, sound/light healing, generative music, and more! Share YOUR research ideas with us at: masonmuralbrigade@gmail.com

Virginia-Native Medicinal and Edible Plants Used in Arcadia

Alpine Strawberries

Black Cohosh

Blueberries

Butterfly Weed

Currant Shrubs

Echinacea

Fig

Flowering Dogwood

Ginseng

Goldenseal

Maidenhair Fern

Pink Azalea

Paw-Paw

Red Bud

Serviceberry

Thornless Raspberries 

Wild Indigo

Witch Hazel

Arcadia plants will be subsequently relocated to the Innovation Food Forest and Green Studio. 

Arcadia is not only an artwork in itself, but a research platform for student and faculty experiments involving musical composition, botany, neuroscience, wellbeing and environmental sustainability. Data from the project will be made available to artists and researchers for their projects.

Arcadia Collaborators

Sarah D’Alexander, Patriot Green Fund Manager, GMU

Doni Nolan, Director, Greenhouses and Gardens Program, GMU

Dr. Andrea Weeks, Director of Ted R. Bradley Herbarium, GMU

Melissa Schreibsten, Director of Well-Being Programs, GMU

Katie Clare, Associate Director for Resilience Programs, GMU

Mark Cooley, Associate Professor, School of Art and Design and Director, Green Studio 

Amanda Jarvis, Coordinator, Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX)

Paige Seber, NYC-based Lighting Designer