MossWorlds: The Exhibition at National Trust Castlefield Viaduct
Explore the historical, contemporary and future importance of mosses in the Greater Manchester area, through art, music and poetry. Free event, no booking required.
Embrace the mossibility!
Step into the lush, layered world of moss at Castlefield Viaduct, where the MossWorlds exhibition runs from 22 October 2025 to 1 February 2026.
This collaborative exhibition invites visitors to explore the quiet resilience, ecological intelligence and aesthetic wonder of moss. More than a plant, moss offers a window into Manchester’s industrial past and its climate-conscious future. The exhibition charts human encounters with moss in art, music, history and literature. Transforming this ancient organism into a portal for ecological resilience and creative futures.
Through immersive installations, poetry, music, and hands-on activities, MossWorlds re-stories moss as a protagonist in Manchester’s evolution, from lowland bogs and railway embankments to community parks and viaduct gardens.
About Us
Launch Photos
by Henry McPherson
” In recent decades […] the importance of mosses as both ‘pioneer species’ and as indicator species for pollution monitoring has become increasingly clear. At the same time, mosses are rich with histories of intertwined human, plant and animal life: by paying attention to them, we can learn different ways of being in our interdependent and interspecies world. ”
– Anke, Aurora & Ingrid
Themes explored
Botanical Worlds
Discover moss as a pioneer species and pollution indicator, vital to carbon capture and habitat restoration.
Political Worlds
Learn how moss and bryology intersected with civic reform, education and activism in Manchester’s history.
Aesthetic Worlds
Engage with moss-inspired art, soundscapes, and speculative design that challenge how we perceive time, scale, and beauty.
Possible Worlds
Moss is a quiet hero of the natural world. It thrives in the margins, stores carbon, and survives extreme conditions. In a time of ecological and social crisis, moss offers a model for resilience, interdependence, and renewal.
MossWorlds invites you to slow down, look closer, and imagine new ways of living through the lens of one of Earth’s oldest and most enduring life forms.
MossWorlds 