A SERIES of fantastical creations will form Chester Zoo's first gardens and science festival this summer.

Wild Worlds will span the attraction's 125 acres of zoological gardens from May 26 to September 30.

From a botanist’s lab to oversized talking chairs and a dormouse garden, a wide range of specially commissioned artistic collaborations will inspire a connection between people and wildlife, gardens and science.

Nine interactive installations will be complemented by a major programme of events over the four months.

Chester Zoo is England's most popular visitor attraction outside London. It is also a conservation and education charity fighting to prevent extinction of threatened animal and plant species.

World class science and education programmes are at the heart of the fight to prevent extinction so it is hoped that Wild Worlds will inspire more than 800,000 visitors over the summer.

Simon Dowell, science director at Chester Zoo, said: “This is a festival that’s uniquely Chester Zoo. We’re collaborating with artists, performers, landscape designers, gardeners and scientists.

"They have immersed themselves in the conservation knowledge, culture and passion of Chester Zoo and conjured up innovative and inspiring ways to interpret that for our visitors and connect people with nature.”

The installations will transform areas of the zoo into spaces that are playful, curious and quirky. Visitors will find something new at every turn – art, music, science, entertainment or just quiet contemplation.

Phil Esseen, the zoo’s curator of botany and horticulture, added: “We want to use the incredible spaces and gardens at the zoo to create a special experience, one that highlights just how important they are to the zoo’s conservation work.

“For the animals, planting creates a natural structure to habitats for different animals to use, whether that’s for climbing, nesting, feeding, or for shelter and opportunities for social interaction. But planting is also a means of engaging people in the landscape that surrounds them and can evoke a lot of emotions; it can make people feel calm, excited or joyful.

“My hope is that Wild Worlds will help prevent plant blindness – a concept where people just walk past plants but don’t see them. We’ve got some very rare and interesting plant species, but despite there being these fantastic 300-year-old oaks and stunning plants in flower somehow they’re just not noticed but without them, the zoo would be a completely different place.

"Hopefully, the festival will help people to understand more about the secret side to plants and just how incredible they are.

"Whether people are looking for an entertaining day out or an enriching place for discovery or contemplation, Wild Worlds will deliver stand out experiences that everyone will want to tell their friends about."

The Wild Worlds festival is free with normal zoo admissions. Zoo tickets can be purchased in advance at chesterzoo.org

THE NINE INSTALLATIONS

ArthroPODS by Jacqui Symons and Richard Dawson

Inspired by the fascinating wildlife that can be found on our doorsteps, ArthroPODS is turning the humble garden shed into inspirational insect homes. Featuring a series of different habitats and environments, the PODS aim to encourage a variety of native minibeasts to take up residence at the zoo

The Natural Honey Bee Garden by Kerry Morrison and Helmut Lemke

Warrington Guardian:

The world of bees will be on show in this special space for our social honey bees. An array of wildflowers – including some of the bees’ favourites – will adorn the apiary garden with its variety of natural hives. Special observation windows open up the world inside the hive, through which visitors can get a close-up view of these fascinating creatures hard at work. 

Celebritrees by Richard Dawson

Celebritrees is a series of three interactive installations, which invite people to explore some of the magnificent trees in the grounds of the zoo through their senses. Frames, olfactory funnels and hearing trumpets harness the texture, smells and even the sounds of the trees to engage visitors and excite the senses.

The Botanist LAB by Ula Maria of Studio Unwired

Science and nature unite in the Botanist LAB, with its weird and wonderful horticultural and botanical spectacles. With a nod to a traditional science lab, there is a ‘student workshop’ and ‘research room’ which provide endless event opportunities. 

The Dormouse Garden - A collaboration between Urban Wilderness, One Five West and Landstruction

Warrington Guardian:

Inspired by the zoo’s research into the ecology of dormice, the Hazel Dormouse Garden reveals the secretive lives of these rare and sleepy rodents. Emerging through the coppice, visitors will find 21 intriguing, interactive posts, covered in dormouse tubes.  As people peep into the tubes, they will be immersed in the sights and sounds that make up the hidden world of this tiny, endangered animal. Their importance, conservation status, quirks and characteristics will be discovered through playful interaction

-       Awe-Kids - A new collaboration between sound recordists Jason Singh and Steve Symons and artist and animator Fabric Lenny.

Awe-Kids is a fun, walk-through, mini sensory safari, which brings plants to the fore - specially created to overcome the concept of ’plant blindess’, where beatuiful, important plants go unnoticed. It has taken the forms, colours, shapes and even the sounds of orchids and other plants in the zoo collection as inspiration for an immersive space that encourages exploration, interaction and play. Four audio-visual structures in the garden include sounds and original music created from directly recording the audio from plants at the zoo. Some sounds are accompanied by animation, while others are triggered by motion sensors to provide a plant ‘disco’.

What the Botanist Saw by David Appleyard and Illuminos

Just as an orchid or lily uses scent to attract insects, three curious, unassuming vending boxes placed around the zoo will entice visitors to look through the eye holes for a close-up encounter of the private goings-on of the plant world. Inspired by the Victorian peepshows, these intimate, plant-based animations will speed up or slow down as viewers turn the crank handle.

Talking Chair and Flamingo Garden, Talking Chair and Enrichment Garden and Talking Chair Rhino garden by Jane Revitt

Three beautifully sculptured, over-sized, wing back chairs will entice visitors to take a seat and relax in one of three mini gardens. These natural, eye-catching sound-booths engage the senses with original soundtracks. The rhino’s horn and scent is the inspiration for one chair, while another will include a mini kitchen garden and the third, with its ever-pink flower display will ask, ‘why are flamingos pink?’ 

Transitions - Created by Badgers of Bohemia, a collaboration between artists Emily Jayne Kaan and Sefton Freeman-Bahn

Drawing on their passion for nature and the beauty of the natural world, Badgers of Bohemia are creating original designs to dress the Chester Zoo entrance and give it a visually dramatic festival feel, inspired by the science and conservation work at the zoo.