Senescent Generator by Shezad Dawood
About the artwork
Senescent Generator is a continuation of Shezad Dawood’s ongoing research into interspecies systems and the communication networks within plant roots. Taking the form of a Yew tree (Taxus baccata), the sculpture explores the complex, symbiotic connections that echo the networks cohabiting the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Curated by Futurecity for Prologis, this artwork is the result of collaboration with the campus team who guided Dawood’s research.
Dawood chose the Yew tree for its rich symbolism, layered history, and pharmaceutical significance. Known for its longevity, resilience, and regenerative properties, the Yew tree has long held sacred meaning. Ancient Druids revered these trees for their unique ability to renew themselves, as drooping branches could root into the soil and grow into new trunks. Dawood was particularly interested in the biochemistry in Yew trees, which holds both purgative and toxic elements. Anti-cancerous compounds are harvested from its poisonous foliage in medicine. Dawood is drawn into this complex relationship between healing and danger- a duality that lends the Yew tree an enduring, mythical presence.
A soundscape to accompany the sculpture
Accompanying the sculpture is a sound composition by Teresa Winter, crafted from frequency recordings of local Yew trees at Ascension Parish Burial Ground, made by Dr. Michal Mos and Marta Kluba. This experimental soundscape invites visitors to engage in an interspecies dialogue with the landscape, introducing a meditative journey that connects people to the rhythms and voices of the natural world.
The planting has been designed to grow and envelop the ‘Yew tree’, shifting and evolving throughout the year, embedding it in the landscape, a constantly changing manifestation of the seasons. Made from welded brass, the sculpture itself will also change over time, darkening and likely cultivating lichen across its surface- a process that mirrors the sculpture’s themes of adaptation and transformation.
Visitors are encouraged to pause and attune to the hidden world of root networks. Senescent Generator is a space for seating, contemplation, inviting each visitor to consider their journeys and place within an interconnected eco-system.
About Shezad Dawood
Shezad Dawood is a multidisciplinary artist who interweaves stories, realities and symbolism to create richly layered artworks, spanning painting, textiles, sculpture, film and digital media. Fascinated by ecologies and architecture, his work takes a philosophical approach, asking questions and exploring alternative futures through what Dawood describes as ‘world-building’. His practice is animated by research, working with multiple audiences and communities to delve into narrative, history and embodiment.
Visit Shezad's website
About Teresa Winter
Teresa Winter is a Yorkshire based composer and musicologist; a mainstay on prism-pushing experimental labels Night School, Death of Rave, Kashual Plastik, and Boomkat’s in-house Editions imprint. With a PhD dissertation on the vitally important English composer and electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire, her work exists in conversation with the sonic and technological legacies of modernism, post-structuralist theory, and ritual.
Visit Teresa's Bandcamp page
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