SCOBY Installation

Main tank: “Mother” SCOBY being nourished by a piece of Victorian fabric, when the textile industry was thriving in Gloucestershire.

Second tank: SCOBY growing with 35mm film. Its growth is being documented and the film will be developed using water from the tank (but we’re making a digital back-up, just in case!).

The Gloucestershire SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) is a one-of-a-kind, living art installation. In the autumn, contemporary textile artist Monica C. LoCascio will hold a performative harvesting. The repetitive, dirty and smelly nature of SCOBY harvesting will reflect, in real terms, the working conditions of the historic textile industry.

Once the harvest has dried, Monica will incorporate the SCOBY into a new textile-based artwork.

Monica’s artistic practice sees the employment of traditional techniques, such as crochet and embroidery, with her materials ranging from salvaged cotton to antique floorboards, and metals. Her processes are deliberate and labour-intensive, and combined with these fabricated materials express the vulnerability and fluidity inherent in the shared human experience.

Drawing inspiration from her series Without Us the System Fails, Monica integrates historic tradition with contemporary technique with the resourceful use of SCOBY — a vital element in kombucha production — as a transformative medium.

Following its incubation, the Gloucestershire SCOBY has now been split. The core of the installation is the “Mother” SCOBY; the secondary tank holds one of the babies; two more SCOBYs will be transferred to tanks shortly. Having been cultivated in Gloucester and now housed in Nailsworth, the installation is embedded with local heritage, feminist empowerment, and intergenerational connectivity.

Textile production was core to Nailsworth, which – unlike other towns in the area – didn’t have a farming industry. Even before the industrial revolution there was a high employment rate of women in the industry, with hand spinning having 100% female employment. The workers would collect raw materials from a merchant and take them home, proceed to spin or weave the textile, and once a product was complete the finished work would be returned for a piece-rate wage. As the process industrialised, women still made up the majority of the workforce in textile factories. Monica’s tactile processes echo the physicality and talents of these workers.

This evolving installation engages multiple senses, with the harvesting of SCOBY and its unique aroma serving as a visceral reminder of the harsh conditions endured by workers in textile manufacturing. Monica’s performative installation will be an homage to the local women whose invisible work has left an indelible mark on Gloucestershire’s cultural history.

By Millie Elliot