http://www.rbge.org.uk/whats-on

RBGE Creative Programmes, Arboretum Place/Inverleith Row Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh (2025)

10/02/2025

February Poster Highlight🌹

Often associated as being the flower of love, Redouté's Roses feature as our poster of the month this February.

Pierre Joseph Redouté (1759-1840) was a Belgian painter and botanist, renowned for his watercolours of roses, lilies and other florals. Appointed as the official court painter of Marie Antoinette and nicknamed the “Raphael of flowers” Redoute was considered one of the most talented botanical artists that ever lived.

The Redouté’s Roses exhibition was held in Inverleith House in 1991 as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

🕰️10 August – 13 September 1991
💷£5.00

To purchase this poster, follow the link below: https://rbgeshop.org/products/redoutes-roses-by-pierre-joseph-redoute
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Image: Redouté’s Roses poster. Inverleith House 1991.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Botanics Shop

05/01/2025

📢 Last chance to see: Ash Rise

Don’t miss the final week of this astounding exhibition celebrating the ash tree in our gallery space at the John Hope Gateway.

Ash Rise is a creative partnership between the Scottish Furniture Makers Association, Scottish Forestry, and the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers, celebrating the ash tree and highlighting the effects of ash dieback through the work of 20 outstanding contemporary makers, designers, and artists from across Scotland.

Once the exhibition has finished at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh it will move on to Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries, and later to Inverness Musuem and Art Gallery. Be sure to catch the exhibition before it leaves Edinburgh on the 12 January!
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🌳 Ash Rise
📅 13 Sep – 12 Jan 2025
⏰ Open daily 10am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 John Hope Gateway Gallery
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: Ash Rise Exhibition View, 2024. Photo: Gabriela Silveira.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Scottish Furniture Makers Association
Scottish Forestry
Creative Scotland

31/12/2024

🌟 Happy Hogmanay! 🌟

Sending a huge thank you to everyone who has supported our exhibitions and events throughout this year - and what a year it's been!

2024 in Inverleith House began with our ‘Silent Archive’ exhibition, shedding light on underrepresented stories within RBGE’s collections, while ‘Connecting Histories’ enjoyed an extended run in the Gateway gallery. In August we celebrated inspirations from the diverse kingdom of fungi with the opening of ‘Fungi Forms’ and Más Arte Más Acción joined us for ‘Around a Tree’ in collaboration with Edinburgh Art Festival. Autumn marked the arrival of ‘Ash Rise,’ highlighting the effects of ash dieback through the work of 20 talented makers, designers and artists from across Scotland.

Stay tuned to hear what’s coming up in 2025✨
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[Image Descriptions – Image 1: Hannah Read and band performing at Botanics Lates in August. Photo: Neil Hanna. Image 2: Ash Rise installation view. Photo: Gabriela Silveira. Image 3: Brigitte at the closing event of Around a Tree. Photo: Tiu Makkonen.
Image 4: Exhibition installation view of Silent Archive Photo: Shannon Tofts. Image 5: Fungi Forms exhibition preview Photo: Louise King.]
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Creative Scotland People's Postcode Lottery

Edinburgh Art Festival Arte Más Acción Baptiste Mushrooms Exhibition Scotland Scottish Furniture Makers Association Forestry of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers

Annalee Davis Amanda Cobbett Murphy Music Karine Polwart Janise Yntema Simon Faithfull Art & Fungi Project Hannah Read Sherwood Collection Iris van Herpen Stella McCartney PLP Labs Orkney Furniture Maker Sheahan Made

23/12/2024

BSL Tour: Ash Rise

Join us for a BSL tour of Ash Rise, led by Trudi Collier. This will be the final day to see the exhibition at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, so make sure not to miss your chance!

Ash Rise is a creative partnership between Scottish Furniture Makers Association, Scottish Forestry, and Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers, celebrating the ash tree and highlighting the effects of ash dieback through the work of 20 outstanding contemporary makers, designers, and artists from across Scotland. Explore this exhibition with Trudi and her specifically designed BSL tour.

Trudi is a deaf BSL user and has been working with arts and heritage organisations since 2017 to create accessible tours and events for deaf BSL users across Scotland.

This exhibition tour is in British Sign Language (BSL). Please book your ticket in advance and meet at the entrance to the exhibition in John Hope Gateway.

To book: https://BSLTourAshRise.eventbrite.co.uk
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📅 Sunday 12 January
⏰ 2pm - 3pm
📍 John Hope Gateway Gallery
🎟️ £5
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Image: BSL Interpretation in an exhibition space. Photo: Eva Madden.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Scottish Furniture Makers Association
Scottish Forestry
Creative Scotland
Deaf Action
Trudi's Mindfulness for Deaf Community

20/12/2024

As 2024 draws to an end we are taking time to reflect on the year and all of the wonderful things that have happened within it. 🎇🎄

It’s been a busy year filled with some very exciting programming. Thank you to all the staff, volunteers, artists, makers, visitors and contractors who have made the programme of exhibitions and events come to life this year.

Wishing you a peaceful break over the festive period and we look forward to seeing you in 2025 for some exciting new programming!
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Image: Inverleith House Gallery, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2024. Photo: Alice Veness
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

18/12/2024

Singing in the New Year: Botanics Choir is back!

The next Botanics Choir term has gone live, and what better time to sign up than now?

Whether you’re wanting an exciting New Year’s resolution to look forward to, a cosy winter escape for the colder months, or even a last-minute Christmas gift to buy for someone special, we have you covered.

From choir enthusiasts to first-time singers, all are welcome. No singing experience is required, and you do not need to audition or read sheet music because parts will be taught in person each week.

Visit Eventbrite for more details and to sign up for the winter-spring term. ❄️
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📅 Tue 14 January – Tue 1 April 2025
⏰ 5.30 – 7pm
📍 RBGE's Lecture Theatre, in the Science Buildings
🎟️ Visit our Eventbrite page for more details:
https://botanics-choir-winter-spring-2025.eventbrite.co.uk
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Botanic Garden Edinburgh

08/12/2024

Ash Sounds 🎸🎶

Only one week to go until the astounding sound of ash is brought to life!

Join Chris Amer, acclaimed jazz/folk guitarist, and singer song writer Rowan Addy for beautiful compositions based around Ash Rise, including a performance on the concrete harmony guitar.

After you have immersed yourself in the sounds of Ash ask any questions you may have to Chris and Rowan in a Q&A.

🗓️ Sunday 15 December
⏰ 12 – 1:30pm
🎟️ £10 / £8 RBGE members / Staff/ Students

Book here: https://ash-sounds.eventbrite.co.uk
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🌳 Ash Rise
📅 13 Sep – 12 Jan 2025
⏰ Open daily 10am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 John Hope Gateway Gallery
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: Concrete Harmony guitar, Ash Rise 2024. Photo: Neil Hanna
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Scottish Furniture Makers Association
Scottish Forestry
Creative Scotland

05/12/2024

Fungi Forms Room 6: “Future”

Fungi are at the heart of all futures. As processors and problem solvers, they can clean up the environment, inspire new medicines and fabricate novel material. Explore a variety of works that showcase this in our final room.

Discover PLP’s Symbiocene Demonstrator, an installation constructed out of mycelium that demonstrates the possible future of it as a building material. Alongside this, feel the texture of Ffern packaging created from mycelium.

Julie Beeler’s “Mushroom Color Atlas” is a living study of colours derived from dyeing with mushrooms. Scroll through the atlas on an interactive screen and learn how the colours inspired the paint on our gallery walls.

Continuing to explore the room, discover Siôn Parkinson’s unique ‘Mushroom Dress’ designed by Matty Bovan. The stinkhorn mushroom inspires this dress, combining art and performance with the idea of scent to capture the fascinating essence of this unusual fungus.
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Image: Fungi Forms installation view, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2024. Photo: Sally Jubb.
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🍄 Fungi Forms
📅 2 Aug – 8 Dec 2024
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Matty Bovan
PLP Labs
Julie Beeler
Siôn Parkinson

04/12/2024

Fungi Forms: Sound and Vision

Fungi weave through human culture, inspiring designers, artists and musicians with their forms, colours, properties and even sounds.

In this room, Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen uses the idea of entanglement in the world of fungi to showcase two dresses from her 2021 Roots of Rebirth collection.

Elsewhere, artists Amanda Cobbett and Alexander Viazmensky respond to the startling colour of the fly agaric mushroom through both botanic artwork and embroidery. Fly agaric specimens from our herbarium can be seen alongside these works.

Whilst absorbing these works you can also play records by musicians who look to the fungal kingdom as an emblem of life’s interconnectedness. Put a record on and immerse yourself into the fascinating world of fungi!
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Images: Fungi Forms installation view, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2024. Photo: Sally Jubb.
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🍄 Fungi Forms
📅 2 Aug – 8 Dec 2024
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Iris van Herpen

Amanda Cobbett

Shirley Sherwood Collection

04/12/2024

📢 Last chance to see: Fungi Forms!

Don’t miss the final week of our exhibition celebrating fungi and its interconnectedness with our lives.

Through the lens of a variety of artists and mediums explore how fungi have inspired artworks and enthralled artists.

The exhibition consists of artworks from a variety of artists and makers including Stella McCartney, Simon Faithfull, Hannah Read, Alexander Viazmensky, Willoughby Arevalo and Isabelle Kirouac, Amanda Cobbett, Iris Van Herpen, Julie Beeler and RBGE’s very own Siôn Parkinson.

From heads growing fungi, to beautiful botanic art, embroidered samples of mushrooms, detailed photography and mushroom leather substitutes, there is something for everyone to explore.

The gallery is open every day until 8 December, so don’t miss your last chance to delve into the fascinating world of fungi!
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🍄 Fungi Forms
📅 2 Aug – 8 Dec 2024
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: Close up of ‘Lagniappe’ by Jo Coupe Photo: Sally Jubb
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

03/12/2024

Fungi Forms: Fact and Fiction

The fourth room you will find in Fungi Forms is Fact and Fiction. For centuries, we have woven stories around mushrooms and fungi or used them to embroider the tales we tell, reflecting our sense of wonder and sometimes our fears.

In this room you can see selections from the Botanics’ library and browse an array of fungi themed books. There are biological studies, cultural histories and works of imagination for all ages and genre tastes.

In addition to our small library, you will also find two animated films. The first, “Mycorrhizal Fungi: The Roots of Life on Land,” explores the mutually beneficial relationship between fungi and plants, featuring insights from mycologist Merlin Sheldrake. The second film, “The Mushroom Hunters,” created by Amanda Palmer, highlights women’s significant contributions to mushroom foraging, accompanied by a poem by author Neil Gaiman that reflects on the evolution of science.
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Image: Fungi Forms installation view, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2024. Photo: Sally Jubb.
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🍄 Fungi Forms
📅 2 Aug – 8 Dec 2024
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

02/12/2024

🍄Fungi Forms: Fashion👗

The third room of Fungi Forms explores Fashion. Today the fashion industry is experimenting with mycelium to develop sustainable and cruelty-free alternatives to traditional materials, particularly leather.

Fashion designer Stella McCartney has long placed environmental concerns and animal welfare at the heart of her business. Her bustier and trousers are made from Mylo™, a form of ‘unleather’ produced from mycelia. Grown in just two weeks in a vertical farming facility powered by renewable energy, it matches leather’s drape, texture and weight almost exactly.

For her spring/summer 2022 launch, McCartney collaborated with eminent mycologist Paul Stamets and biologist Merlin Sheldrake, author of ‘Entangled Life’. The fungi-inspired collection included a limited-edition handbag made from Mylo™.
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Image: Fungi Forms installation view, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2024. Photo: Sally Jubb.
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🍄 Fungi Forms
📅 2 Aug – 8 Dec 2024
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Stella McCartney

01/12/2024

Fungi Forms Gallery 2: Food and Drink

The second room in Fungi Forms is ‘Food and Drink’. Without fungi we would have little to eat or drink. No rice, corn, potatoes, bread, pasta, tea, coffee, beer or wine... without fungi there would be hardly any soil and without fungal partners the plants we consume, or feed to livestock, could not survive.

Edible fungi are celebrated by artists across the globe for their forms, flavours and scents.

In this room, you will find work by the botanical artist Alexander Viazmensky who has spent decades foraging for fungi in the woods. A key element of Viazmensky’s images is the apparent debris. This relates to where the specimen was found and evokes the biological concept of mutualism, the beneficial interaction between species.

British textile artist Amanda Cobbett has also worked extensively with fungi. Scouring forest floors, she photographs and collects mushrooms. Amanda then creates exquisite, embroidered sculptures of mushrooms and toadstools using an intricate process involving the layering of thread.

Bringing sensory fun to the exhibition is the Art & Fungi Project, aka American artists Willoughby Arévalo and Isabelle Kirouac. Scent is a clue in the identification of mushrooms, so their graphic ‘Aromatic Wheel of Fungi’ display asks visitors to apply the sniff test to a variety of specimens. What memories do these smells trigger? What words describe them? This work is ever expanding.
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Image: Fungi Forms installation view, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2024. Photo: Sally Jubb.
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🍄 Fungi Forms
📅 2 Aug – 8 Dec 2024
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Shirley Sherwood Collection

Amanda Cobbett

Art & Fungi Project

30/11/2024

Fungi Forms Gallery 1: ‘Life’

Entering the first room in Fungi Forms you are welcomed by a wall of photographs showcasing just a few of the essential species that support life in the Botanics, alongside artworks inspired the by the effects that fungi have on the cycles of life.

Our bodies are habitats for many organisms. Working in partnership with Edinburgh-based community mushroom farm Rhyze, Simon Faithfull has turned himself into a habitat for fungi. In his Biotopes series, he has made 3D prints of his own head and impregnated them with mycelia. These have grown during Fungi Forms to produce a variety of oyster mushrooms, which grow out of the head’s mouth and nose like mycological speech bubbles.

Hannah Read is an Edinburgh-born musician and composer. The Fungi Sessions Vol. 1 is a suite of songs inspired by fungi and dedicated to the memory of her father, Nick Read, a pioneering fungal cell biologist at the University of Edinburgh. Hannah’s song Silverphae is paired alongside a microscopic time-lapse video of a stinkhorn mycelium made in collaboration with mycologist Dr. Patrick Hickey.

Exploring her fascination with fungi, Jo Coupe presents Infester, bronze casts of edible beech mushrooms that typically grow on trees. They emerge from the walls here and elsewhere in the exhibition, a reminder that fungi are all around us.
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Image: Fungi Forms installation view, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2024. Photo: Sally Jubb.
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🍄 Fungi Forms
📅 2 August – 8 Dec 2024
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Rhyze Mushrooms
Simon Faithfull
Hannah Read
Patrick Hickey
Jo Coupe

25/11/2024

Ash Sounds 🎸🎶

Join us for a recital of the two musical compositions inspired by the exhibition Ash Rise.

Acclaimed jazz and folk guitarist, Chris Amer will play a composition written for Ash Rise on the guitar made for the exhibition, plus other pieces to demonstrate the sounds capable of an ash and concrete guitar.

Singer songwriter Rowan Addy will play 'Back to the Ground', her piece written for the musical score of the Ash Rise documentary film on a Taran Guitar, handmade in Fife by Rory Dowling and his workshop team.

Listen as the work in the Ash Rise exhibition comes to life, followed by a Q&A.

🗓️ Sunday 15 December
⏰ 12 – 1:30pm
🎟️ £10 / £8 RBGE members / Staff/ Students

Book here: https://ash-sounds.eventbrite.co.uk
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🌳 Ash Rise
📅 13 Sep – 12 Jan 2025
⏰ Open daily 10am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 John Hope Gateway Gallery
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Image: Concrete Harmony guitar, Ash Rise 2024. Photo: Gabriela Silveira
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Scottish Furniture Makers Association

Scottish Forestry

Creative Scotland

19/11/2024

Christmas at the Botanics 🌟

There’s not long to go now until Christmas at the Botanics is back!

This year, discover flickering candles floating high into the night sky, batons of colour-changing light dancing in time and even a beautiful light up mycelium network, fitting in perfectly with our fungal theme of the year!

To book your tickets follow the link below:

https://www.rbge.org.uk/whats-on/christmas-at-the-botanics

A reminder that during Christmas at the Botanics the gallery and garden will close early on the following dates:

Wednesday 21 November
Opening Times: 10:30am - 2:30pm (last entry 2:15pm)
Garden closing 3pm

Sunday 24 November and Wednesday 4 December
Opening Times: 10:30am – 3pm (last entry 2:45pm)
Garden closing 3:30pm

Come along and join us for the most wonderful time of the year!
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Image: Mycelium network, Christmas at the Botanics 2024.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

16/11/2024

🍄 Join our final few Spotlight Talks for Fungi Forms!

Enjoy a series of spotlight talks led by our wonderful Creative Programmes volunteers and immerse yourself further into the world of fungi.
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📍Inverleith House

📅 Saturday 16 November
⏰14:30 – 15:00

📅 Friday 22 November
⏰11:30 – 12:00

📅 Thursday 5 December
⏰13:30 – 14:00

📅 Saturday 7 December
⏰13:30 – 14:00

🔗 Book your free spot via Eventbrite using the link below: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/fungi-forms-3429419
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Image: A volunteer delivering a talk during the Fungi Forms exhibition, September 2024. Photo: Alice Veness.
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🍄 Fungi Forms
📅 2 August – 8 Dec 2024
⏰ Open daily 10.30am - last entry 3.15pm
📍 Inverleith House
🎟️ Free exhibition
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Fungi Forms is supported by players of the People's Postcode Lottery, and National Lottery through Creative Scotland

15/11/2024

December Spill the Tea Tour ☕🍄

It’s our final Spill the Tea Tour of Fungi Forms! Join us for a guided tour of Fungi Forms, chat about the exhibition, and sample a cup of mushroom tea.

Guided by a member of the Botanics' Creative Programmes team, enter the fascinating world of fungi and learn about the multiple forms it takes both in life and in art.

Through music, literature, fashion, design, scent and visual art, Fungi Forms will take you on a spectacular journey, exploring fungi in science, culture and innovation. At the end of the tour, discuss what you have learnt over a cosy cup of mushroom tea!

🗓️ Sunday 1 December
⏰ 2.30pm - 3.30pm
🎟️ Book here: https://Spill-the-tea-tour-fungi-forms-4.eventbrite.co.uk
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Image: Fungi Forms installation view, Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, 2024. Photo: Louise King.
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Fungi Forms

Until 8 December 2024
Open daily 10.30am - 3:30pm (last entry 3.15pm)
Inverleith House Gallery
Free exhibition
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

RBGE Creative Programmes

10/02/2025

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31/12/2024

23/12/2024

20/12/2024

18/12/2024

08/12/2024

05/12/2024

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03/12/2024

02/12/2024

01/12/2024

30/11/2024

25/11/2024

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15/11/2024

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