As part of a co-operative effort between agriculture and the arts, I have focused on the sun – our nearest star, whose rays are the basis for all life as we know it and are able to comprehend it.

The pivotal idea behind this work is to concentrate the rays of the sun in a lens which can register the sun’s progress in its firmament by burning it onto a screen.

As the height of the sun near its solstice varies little from day to day, I have constructed a “biolift” which can mechanically raise and lower the screen. The biolift is a kind of piston; prior to the solstice, it is driven by sprouting corn, and after the solstice it is driven by a slowly collapsing heap of compost.

To play with fire – an energy which, when controlled, is an almost indispensable tool in our daily lives, but which, when uncontrolled, has an ultimate potential for destruction – has always fascinated me. I think the same goes for anyone who has retained a modicum of the child’s natural sense of wonder.

Like other forces of nature, fire is an energy which seems to be a prerequisite for our existence and which, when properly balanced, can be harnessed in aesthetic and useful ways. But like other natural forces, it must be treated with a sense of ethics and responsibility.

Without these ethical considerations, might our fate be like that of Ikaros?