SPARK #45: Guardians of Living Matter
SPARK Event
SPARK #45: Guardians of Living Matter
07 March 2026
11am - 1pm
The Lowry
For our March SPARK session we travel not only to the Lowry in Salford, but to the year 2076 when, thanks to an extraordinary collaboration with our non-human allies, we have successfully navigated the climate crisis. The convergence of new low-carbon artificial intelligence and natural mycelium networks – the underground fungal threads that connect and sustain fungal and plant life – has given humanity a second chance as custodians of planetary care.
But how did we get here?
SPARK members and multidisciplinary artists John-Paul Brown and Sophy King will take us on a journey of speculation and discovery, to explore what the world might look like when humanity and more-than-human intelligence come together. Creating space for possibility and hope, The Guardians of Living Matter is an interdisciplinary exhibition that imagines an optimistic and radical future in which a community of the more-than-human has emerged following the entanglement of mycelial networks with AI.
The exhibition centres around a vast, multi-sensory installation: a living sculpture of mycelium and AI. Surrounding it are a research lab and new works by Brown and King, exploring the entangled relationships between artificial and fungal intelligence. Together, these elements interweave climate research with low-carbon AI prototyping, inviting visitors to consider futures grounded in care, imagination, and collective action.
Co-commissioned with Lowry’s Artist Development programme as part of ‘Developed With’, The Guardians of Living Matter has been supported by the Henry Moore Foundation, with additional support from the University of Salford, SODA (School of Digital Arts) at Manchester Metropolitan University, HOME Manchester, Rogue Artists’ Studios CIC, and Royal Exchange Theatre.
JOHN-PAUL BROWN is a British visual artist interested in the conditions that create generational loops in class. His work is a cumulative investigation into the interconnectedness of Earth system science and the human extraction of natural resources, making connections between the everyday and geopolitical climate complexities. Focusing on methods of low carbon art-making and material choices, his practice involves documentary photography, expanded drawing and sculptural installation. He combines research with personal experience to create layered narratives of our world today and promotes positive discussion about the roles artists can play in tackling the climate crisis.
@johnpaulbrown / www.johnpaulbrown.com
SOPHY KING is a multidisciplinary environmental artist, investigating the climate crisis, human and non-human ecologies, geological time and socioeconomic histories. She examines these through site-specific installation, sculpture and audiovisuals, using living elements, organic and man-made materials. Originally trained in 3D Design, she worked as a glassblower, art fabricator, set-builder, prop-maker and Landscape Architect whilst winning commissions to create art in the public realm around the UK. She developed her studio practice further with an MA in Fine Art at MMU in 2019 and a bursary to explore film-making from the Liverpool Biennial, since when she has been exhibiting and making site-specific work nationally and internationally.
@sophykingart / www.sophyking.com
ACCESS INFO
There is step-free access to the gallery
More detailed access info available at https://thelowry.com/accessibility-65fb
SPARK
The SPARK network was set up by Castlefield Gallery in 2022 to facilitate a Greater Manchester/North West-based network of artists wanting to intervene in the climate crisis. The gallery initiated SPARK in response to the high demand for places on the 2021/22 SUSTAIN programme focussed on low carbon artmaking. SPARK #45 follows SPARK sessions at Manchester Art Gallery, Rogue, The Birley (Preston), Eccles Friends Meeting House, Manchester Museum, AIR Gallery, Paradise Works, Editional Studio, Cadishead and Little Woolden Moss, Gallery Oldham, the John Rylands Library, Dunham Massey, Lindow Moss, Castlefield Viaduct, Gallery Oldham, The Atkinson, Castlefield Gallery, Northern Roots, Salford Museum and Art Gallery; and a group exhibition and events programme at Rogue Studios.
Castlefield Gallery continues to provide admin and co-ordination support via its Artist Environmental Lead, Jane Lawson.
https://www.instagram.com/sparkartistsnetwork
To join the SPARK email list, please email jane@castlefieldgallery.co.uk
Photo credit – Michael Pollard
