CAROLINE VITZTHUM
Director Description: Caroline Vitzthum has gained her first degree at a traditional bespoke tailoring school in Vienna, followed by a one-year masterclass specialised on haute couture tailoring. In 2020, she completed her BA (Hons) in Contemporary Arts Practice at Bath Spa University and was subsequently awarded a 12-m
CAROLINE VITZTHUM
Director Description: Caroline Vitzthum has gained her first degree at a traditional bespoke tailoring school in Vienna, followed by a one-year masterclass specialised on haute couture tailoring. In 2020, she completed her BA (Hons) in Contemporary Arts Practice at Bath Spa University and was subsequently awarded a 12-month Graduate Fellowship at Spike Island in Bristol. She is the recipient of the 2022/23 Slade Bursary, awarded by the Faculty of History at the University of Oxford. In 2023, Caroline graduated from the University of Oxford, where she completed a Master of Fine Art degree at The Ruskin School of Art and Exeter College.
Director Statement: Caroline Vitzthum is an artist and educator working with performance, textiles, community engagement, and film. Her works are created in close collaboration with environmental charities, scientists, and community groups to address climate change.
Her particular interest in bryology (study of mosses) and peatlands is explored in her long-time work titled 'Speaking Sphagnum', a project initiated in 2021 during a three-month artist residency at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Coming to peatlands from a background in bespoke tailoring, Caroline is interested in the interlacing of multi-species relationships and the observation of ecological processes through a microscopic lens.
Film Title: THE MOST IMPORTANT PLANT IN THE WORLD
The most important plant in the world' is the first in a series of short films commissioned by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme. The film series is collectively titled 'Sphagnum portraits' and brings together ambitious works undertaken by individuals, environmental charities, and communit
Film Title: THE MOST IMPORTANT PLANT IN THE WORLD
The most important plant in the world' is the first in a series of short films commissioned by the IUCN UK Peatland Programme. The film series is collectively titled 'Sphagnum portraits' and brings together ambitious works undertaken by individuals, environmental charities, and community groups to help share the importance of peatlands and engage in restoring damaged sites across the country. 'The most important plant in the world' premiered at the IUCN UK Peatland Programme’s 'Peatlands, People, and Nature' conference in Aviemore, Scotland, in September 2024.
The film portrays the collective efforts between the Moors for the Future Partnership and BeadaMoss, a family-run nursery based in the East Midlands in England, to re-introduce Sphagnum moss to a peatland site in the Peak District, which suffered from a severe wildfire in 2018.BeadaMoss specialises in micro-propagating Sphagnum moss for large-scale peatland restoration projects across the UK and Europe, thereby partnering with various environmental charities across Europe.
Small quantities of Sphagnum moss are collected from the damaged site and micro-propagated under controlled conditions in the greenhouses at BeadaMoss, which are then taken out onto the moor for plug-planting as a form of gradually re-vegetating the damaged site.