"Gulliver goes to the Grand Academy of Lagado in 1706 to see what experiments the scientists are working on. One 'projector' is extracting sunbeams from cucumbers with the purpose of preserving them to warm the Governor's garden at a reasonable cost. He begs Gulliver for a donation of funds to continue his work for a further eight years. Swift satirises the Royal Society which in his view encouraged absurd and useless experiments detached from human needs that didn't change the divide between rich and poor.

My piece is based on the Sunbeams from Cucumbers experiment, and highlights our constant tweaking of nature. Now we have ended up with too few varieties of vegetables to sustain us, even though we've spent years and millions on 'improving' on nature. It's still just a few 'Governors' who benefit."

Yanny Petters