Mente
la menta?, 2000 France Chaumont sur Loire The garden in Chaumont was designed by a group of architects and landscape
architects (Marco Antonini, Gianna Attiani, Roberto Capecci, Daniela Mongini
and Raffaella Sini) that had teamed up for that particular competition.
Leaping from one of the hedges that enclose the plots scattered in the
park of the Chaumont sur Loire castle, is an intricate web of metal net.
Getting nearer, and crossing it, one arrives to a circular raft floating
on a water basin.
Around the raft the water mint (Mentha aquatica), green and pure, grows
at the base of the "cushions" of net, and diffuses a strong,
deep perfume.
In the centre is a round, empty space. To us, the best description of
the idea behind the project, is the one which appeared on the architectural
magazine 'Arca' (you'll find the English translation enclosed). It is
a critical analysis of the following concept, which we had handed in for
the competition: The absence of a theme for the "Festival des jardins
2000" becomes a spur for us to express our vision of the new millennium.
Our idea of "future" relies on four elements, that coexist,
expressing both distrust and optimism.
The Vacuum
The design is conceived around an empty, central space (the water basin)
that represents the unknown future: the new millennium.
The Raft
In this vacuum man is anchored to a raft (the wooden crown) floating on
water, in an uncertain present.
The Smoke
The water is covered by smoke (the grid cages, some are covered with metal
wool) that gives the idea of the complexity of contemporary world and
materialises its many shadows.
Nature
Nature (water mint ) rises from water, almost lifting the smoke, spreading
its rich scent full of optimism.
"Mente la-menta?" ("Does mint lie?"), which, unfortunately,
often appeared without the question-mark, is a play on words. The meaning
is: 'Can we really always rely on Nature to counterbalance our predatory
approach to its resources, or does Nature fool us?'.
At the same time "Mente la-menta?" (mente also means the mind
and lamentare means to complain, to suffer ) can be translated as: "Does
the mind suffer?", leaving once again the question open on how aware
we are, on where we stand. The techniques are described, once again using
the four elements:
- The Vacuum
The whole parcel has been dug out, a liner has been installed and then
flooded. In the empty central space pieces of char coal float, concealing
the bottom of the pool, resembling a "black tide".
- The raft
On this water basin the walkway is a circular deck made of planks of pine
wood disposed radially. This structure, although it looks like a sort
of raft floating on the surface, is anchored to the ground and connected
to the entrance by a metal grid
- The smoke
Around the raft is a system of "cushions" ("berlingots"
as "Le Monde" defined them) made of metal net, some of them
covered also with steel wool (the opaque ones). Those "cushions"
are disposed one on top of the other. It is the contrast between opaqueness
and transparency that gives the idea of "smoke".
- Nature
Nature is represented by a "belt" around the raft of 1000 plants
of water-mint rising from the water into the metal cages and by floaters
growing in the central space, designing "green continents",
that contrast the "black tide".
Ombre, 2002 Canada - Grand Metis, Quebec
Temporary
garden for the "International Garden Festival 2002" of the "Jardins
de Metis", Reford Gardens, Grand Metis, Quebec, Canada.
The work will be exhibited from 21/06/2002 to 15/09/2002
Shadow is a key-element of both architecture and garden design. It defines
space and distance, it gives perspective. In gardens, shadows also refer
to a darker emotional level of perception. Our design considers the site
like an archaeological excavation field.
The visitor is confronted with an array of seemingly identical, but freely
placed opening in a bare ground. The reference to a necropolis is strong,
with its shadows of the past hanging metaphorically on the very present
times.Entering the garden one soon discovers that the ground inside the
openings is unexpectedly covered with low, densely growing and flowering
plants. Passing from the perception of an "endless" repetition
of excavations to the encloser of sunken beds and from a lifeless context
to the thriving 'micro-gardens', creates a reassuring change of scale.
Metropolis,
2003, United Kingdom-Westonbirt
resembles a miniature city, an urban skyline. A series of crates, randomly
placed, contain plants from all continents and each crate has its own
label, specifying the plant's name and origin. As if they have been unloaded
onto a city dock, these plants wait for their final destination .
The cages, far from being confining have allowed the plants to travel
and spread.
You are invited to wander amongst them, admiring their textures, colours
and scents and thus accelerating their diffusion through pollination and
by scattering their seeds. Each plant can be appreciated individually
but also has a relationship with those around it - harmonious or otherwise
- a symbol of people's relationships with each other in city life.
Marco Antonini, Roberto Capecci and Raffaella Sini are architects and
landscape architects based in Rome. Exhibitors at garden festivals around
the world, their aim is to push the accepted boundaries and to forge a
reputation for uncompromising ideas.
A
stock of plants unloaded from an unlikely trip around the globe. There
is no apparent order in the layout of their cases.Plants from every continent
wait for their final destination. Being 'caged' does not hinder them to
send out messages, be it smell, colour, pollen, seeds.
The visitor is invited to wander between the cases, to experience these
messages. Every case has its own label, specifying the name and origin
of the plants. A personal geography is created following one's own curiosity.
The natural process of biological exchange is accelerated, man functions
as a catalyst.
Stone's
throw, 2004 USA-Sonoma, California
Landscape is represented in traditional garden art through allegories
or as realistic miniatures.
We are inverting the process of miniaturisation by isolating a stone from
its original environment and expanding its scale to the point that it
becomes itself a landscape.
Similarly to some experiences in pop art an elementary object is blown
to surreal dimensions. In our case it is not a familiar and mass produced
object, instead it is an arbitrarily chosen but unique element of a specific
landscape, a beach on the Mediterranean.
This process begins with the stone being singled out from the many stones
forming that particular landscape. Its de-contextualisation and placement
on a urban lawn, is a necessary intermediate step to define its identity.
The following manipulation transforms it into a space that will be experienced
by visitors. 'Informed' through images that depict the stone in its original
and transitory environment the visitors close the conceptual circle by
living actively and emotionally the site.
The "opening" theme of the festival has a double reference with
our garden-installation. A physically one is represented by planted holes
in the stone, breaking like 'life pockets' its otherwise lifeless surface.
A more abstract parallel can be found by the visitor who opens his mind
in this imaginary voyage through space and time.
