“A seed can be buried, or it can be planted.”
INTO THE SEEDS OF TIME
Paintings, paper sculpture, filmmaking
Environmental Storytelling - from research to concept, to exhibition and to a permanent online resource.
30 minute short film - Into The Seeds Of Time
Beans, from seed to seed.
OmVed Gardens, London · Artist in Residence 2024–2025 · Solo Exhibition 2026 · ongoing online resource
Most of us know beans from a tin, or as a bag of dried pulses. Often we don’t think of them as seeds.
Into the Seeds of Time began as a year-long residency at OmVed Gardens in London. The team grew beans at OmVed and Vivienne in her studio and followed them through a full cycle: seed, plant, pod, food, art and seed again. Vivienne painted them in sumi-e ink, made paper sculptures and wrote and directed four films.
Beans take nitrogen from the air and return it to the soil and need therefore no fertiliser. They feed us and the ground they grow in. In a changing climate they are one of the simplest foods we have for human and planetary health. The project shows what changes when we slow down and look at them as living plants, each with its own ecosystem, and as a vital source of protein and fibre.
Research
The work grew out of growing experiments and conversations with Vivienne’s scientists and ecological advisors:
Perry Haldenby - Soilredemption - on caring for soil
Dr Caspar Chater - Senior Research Leader, Royal Botanic Garden Kew - on the bean as a seed for the future
Kevin Martin - Head of Trees , Royal Botanic Garden Kew - on the urban ecosystems under pressure from climate change
Vicky Chown - Head of Urban Growing OmVed Gardens - on resilience
Professor William Erskine - Honorary Senior Researcher, The University of Western Australia - pulses, sustainability and food security
Dr Tiziana Ulian - Senior Research Leader Royal Botanic Garden Kew , on seeds, climate and conservation
Exhibition
31 May – 3 August 2025, OmVed Gardens
Paintings, paper sculpture and film spread across OmVed’s new spaces. The artworks were placed alongside the garden’s own work of growing, seed saving, cooking, preserving and recording, so visitors moved through the whole life of a bean.
OmVed’s kitchen team and chefs from the Chefs’ Manifesto created bean dishes from the exhibition for visitors to taste.
As part of the programme Vivienne gave a public talk with her ethics advisor from the University of Oxford on climate ethics, creativity and hope.
FAD Magazine’s London art critic listed it among the top five exhibitions to see in London.
“So inspiring and educational. Thank you for advancing the climate discussion.” (visitor)
Films
Into the Seeds of Time is a documentary shot over the residency. It follows Vivienne’s approach through her art, science and the garden through one growing year.
A Journey Through Beans: Seeds of Resilience is a series of four short films:
Puy Lentil
Essex Pea Bean
Gaia Soy Bean
The final film follows the bean from root to seed as a way of thinking about past, present, future and what we leave behind
3 × 3 minute short films - Puy Lentil, Essex Pea Bean, Gaia Soy Bean
What it has become
The project didn’t end when the exhibition closed. It is now an initiative of OmVed Gardens and a permanent online resource here and on their website here:
In 2025 it was shown at the Barbican, at the Food Foundation event that launched Bang in Some Beans, the campaign to double the UK’s bean consumption by 2028. Over the following year supermarkets and food businesses signed up, and beans became one of the UK’s food stories.
The film is screened regularly at OmVed’s open days. Adzuki and Soy bean paintings from the project received International Sumi-e Association awards in 2024 and 2025 and were exhibited at the National Art Center Tokyo | Japan.
The beans continue in Vivienne’s ongoing series NOUR, and as seeds in the series SLEEPING BEAUTY.
This project is an invitation: grow a bean, cook one, save its seed, paint it if you like, and share. Through creativity and small, tangible steps, hope becomes something we can practise, and a way to shape a more beautiful future.
Credits
Developed during the Artist Residency at OmVed Gardens, 2024–2025
Concept, artworks and creative direction: Vivienne Schadinsky
Film: written and directed by Vivienne Schadinsky; camera and editing by Will Hearle
Curation and exhibition coordination: Sol Polo
With thanks to OmVed Gardens for their support, from the first seed to the exhibition and beyond.
Vivienne interviewed members of her scientific and ecological advisory board ‘The Current We Share’ during her residency. Parts of these conversations appear in the 30 minute documentary film. Below you can watch the full interviews.
Perry Haldenby - Soilredemption - on caring for soil
Vicky Chown - Head of Urban Growing OmVed Gardens - on resilience
More about the exhibition:
Please read here
Dr Caspar Chater - Senior Research Leader, Royal Botanic Garden Kew - on the bean as a seed for the future
Professor William Erskine - Honorary Senior Researcher, The University of Western Australia - pulses, sustainability and food security
Kevin Martin - Head of Trees , Royal Botanic Garden Kew - on the urban ecosystems under pressure from climate change
Dr Tiziana Ulian - Senior Research Leader Royal Botanic Garden Kew , on seeds, climate and conservation