Following in the theoretical footsteps of French landscape architect and agricultural engineer Gilles Clément (France, b.1943), keeping in tune with his inspiring idea of a “Planetary Garden”, this present project is intended as an open theoretical approach&artistic discourse on the “garden” seen as a metaphysical space: the garden as a state of mind.

“Landscape architecture” in particular, the concept of a biosphere together with the importance of biodiversity are pivotal ideas in the conception of our theoretical proposal.

What the garden can symbolically represent is the relation between Humankind and God in Nature.

The garden is – in a sense - an intermediate idea: at the crossroads of nature and culture, of matter and human consciousness.

Since it is neither purely a physical place nor a mere ideal only, the garden discloses for us both dimensions (physical and metaphysical) in the form of human art.

Sadly enough, we presently live in an almost entirely “gardenless age” for lack of really “seeing” (and feeling) around us the gardens, within our towns, in our daily life and environment.

Gardens can be food-producing or ornamental, haven or sanctuary, but they also represent “work,” meaning by this the building of the worlds that make us historical creatures.

Voltaire famously urged us to cultivate our gardens.

Humans have long turned to gardens —both real and  imaginary—for seeking refuge from the frenzy and tumult that surround them.

Specifically, “cultivation” in connection with “gardening” is a concept we derive from various, even ancient, authors, such as Dante, Boccaccio, Epicurus.

Here, in the convergence of vital forces, in the garden’s microcosm, the cosmos manifests its greater harmonies; here the human soul rediscovers its essential connection to matter.

“Cultivation,” “care,” and “soul” –  are all terms we can interchangeably employ to move from the literal Garden to figurative “cultivation” of the human “soul” or SPIRIT.

But we must always remember that nature has its own order and that human gardens do not, as one hears so often, bring order to nature; rather, they give order to our relation to nature.

In the compulsion of capitalism and consumerist culture, this kind of “cultivation,” both literal and figurative, has been lost, it actually finds no place in our society.

And in fact there is no real national debate on “cultivation” forwarding the debate about climate change.

History shows just how central gardens and gardening are to the definition of our humanity

Gardens were once "places of self-discovery, of spiritual cultivation, of personal transformation".

Agri-tecture

Places in which Nature re-gains (i.e. re-colonizes) a territory inside the already urbanised area are noteworthy examples of a "Spinozian" Natura Naturans around us: spontaneous and silent (but sometimes even willingly promoted by man) operations that overcome the widespread concrete in favour of a more “green” side of the town, the re-instalment of a natural order, on the part of Nature, within disused public areas results in a new kind of “gardening” which can be intriguing and, at the same time, strangely beautiful.

We are talking of “agri-tecture” in all those cases in which a public idea of  “green space” matches with an attentive, innovative, even cutting-edge architecture.

One perfect example of this new approach is

THE HIGH LINE - Public Park, New York 2009 by Diller & Scofidio:

The High Line, in collaboration with Field Operations, is- Where  a new 1.5-mile long public park is built on an abandoned elevated railroad stretching from the Meatpacking District to the Hudson Rail Yards in Manhattan. Inspired by the melancholic, unruly beauty of this postindustrial ruin, where nature has reclaimed a once vital piece of urban infrastructure, the new park interprets its inheritance. It translates the biodiversity that took root after it fell into ruin in a string of site-specific urban microclimates along the stretch of railway that include sunny, shady, wet, dry, windy,

Through a strategy of agri-tecture (part agriculture, part architecture) the High Line surface is digitized into discrete units of paving and planting which are assembled along the 1.5 miles into a variety of gradients from 100% paving to 100% soft, richly vegetated biotopes. The paving system consists of individual pre-cast concrete planks with open joints to encourage emergent

growth like wild grass through cracks in the sidewalk.

But even more poignantly in this direction:

The CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES San Francisco 2000/2008 by Renzo Piano, presented as a perfect union of “agritecture” and “green engineering”, the new Academy rises on the same site of the former California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Sustainability was a key aspect of the design, as this project is one of the ten pilot “green building” projects of the San Francisco Department of Environment, aiming to get platinum LEED certification. According to sustainable design strategies: natural ventilation instead of air conditioning for large parts of the building, carefully chosen building materials, an efficient use and re-use of water, as well as the generation of energy, are integral parts of the design. A green roof, landscape with native plants species, will unify the different functions. It undulates to accommodate the Academy’s major components: the new Planetarium, the Rainforest Exhibit and the Steinhart Aquarium entrance.

The project conserves two limestone walls from the previous building (1934), and houses a planetarium, a rain forest habitat and an aquarium, and several exhibition spaces to house the several Academy collections.The planetarium and the bubble that contains the rain forest habitat are the two big spheres that shape the green roof. The roof becomes a landscape with California native species. In the center of this “Living Roof” a glazed skylight covers the Piazza, while other smaller skylights allow natural light into the exhibit space and provide natural ventilation. The roof will extend beyond the perimeter walls into a glass canopy to provide shade, protect from the rain and generate energy through more than 55.000 photo voltaic cells in the glass. The material palette for the complex as a whole remains simple: limestone, architectural concrete, steel, aluminium and extra clear glass.

Milan 2015: a more “green” Expo

For the realization of the 2015 Milan Expo, the Master Plan conceived by a team of international architects composed by Jacques Herzog, Richard Burdett, Stefano Boeri, William McDonough is mainly based on a pattern of “greenhouses” and exhibiting pavilions providing an entire “planetary garden” as the actual primary scenario for the Expo, with a minimum impact of concrete in the newly built exhibition areas and compounds.

A constructive dialogue between a "green"-oriented creativity and our contemporary urbanism is a useful way of dealing with the problems of biodiversity and ecological sustainability, this is true also from an aesthetic point of view, like the most recent experiments in using living walls together with contemporary architecture have poignantly highlighted.  The Green Façade is another form of urban agriculture or urban gardening presently spreading around the most populated megalopolis in the World.

This kind of “vertical garden” may also be built and conceived as a work of art in its own, for its own beauty. It is sometimes even built indoors to help cure sick building syndrome.

A green wall provides shade from sunlight and keeps room cool in summer; resulting in: energy conservation for  air conditioning; better quality of life; less pollution; an aesthetic value added to the building.

Ecology in the arts

Ecology intended as a political thought and movement is something absolutely unprecedented in human history, but also unprecedented is the destruction perpetrated against nature in the last few decades of western civilization.  We cannot operate without conscience of the results of our actions, we cannot act irresponsibly, in a short-sighted and narrow-minded or even opportunistic way: with ecology, men enter now in a new era of "responsibility".

Responsibility towards nature, the environment, its biodiversity, but also – and above all - responsibility towards our fellow citizens, the generations to come, the future of the human species.

The garden as a "mental space" is apt for many different – even antithetical - interpretations: in the Zen meditative practice it becomes an object for contemplation, pretext for an inner and transcendental search; it becomes a metaphysical garden too, and, paradoxically, a "dry garden", a “lithic” garden: essentially made of stones. Conversely in the artist and architect's vision, in the practice of an "organic", iridescent and surrealistic architecture like Gaudi's, nature and the garden can become a source of endless inspiration, colourful vitality and creativity: a sort of “fantastic voyage” into Man, Nature, Universe and its Laws: metamorphic expression – ultimately – of the omnipresence of genius in nature.

Art&imagination, Architecture&Landscape

The garden as a meeting place, between art&history: an ontological  dimension for both "subjectivity" and “community”

The landscape is a territorial “complex” endowed with morphological and environmental qualities that can easily relate to one's individual emotions and feelings, a complex which can be suitably communicated through diverse artistic languages (both literary and figurative) and media.

The “picturesque” in painting, the geographical subject and view in art history can be easily connected to names of master painters-architects like Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci etc. from Renaissance onward.  Even in the ancient Roman paintings and frescos the art of cultivating gardens was a most favoured subject and setting, even more so in the nineteenth century Impressionism, where Nature becomes the very centre of a pictorial and chromatic experience for painters like Monet and others.

Spreading the idea of an Eden-like source of harmony and inspiration for the artist, up until the thresholds of our modern era, the idea of the garden relating vegetation to urbanism remains at the bottom of many architectural&figurative movements. Even today, the artists (who are often among the most sensitive and attentive personalities of their own generation) perfectly understand how to conjugate in their work the most complex and innovative messages with modern sociological challenges, in response to the premonitory signs of change now occurring in the contemporary intellectual&artistic milieu.

The artist/ecologist is able to find his/her own way of expression in accordance with the many different geographical and political nuances of the context in which he/she lives and works.

In this sense “ecologists” of our times can be truly considered artists, architects, performers like Beuys, Hundertwasser, or, more recently, Christò&Jeanne Claude and Olafur Eliasson.

This exhibition aims to present artworks and projects by various artists&architects illustrating new possible architectural and urban models which are respectful of the Planetary Biosphere; by focussing on new issues of architecture, such as agri-tecture, biodiversity & emerging trends in the area of virtual-actual urbanism, the exhibition will illustrate new civil projects and creativity for the social&political scenario of 21^st century, with the intention of preposing sustainable lifestyles for the individual and global community, promoting

an open discourse and a fair public debate on the following topics:

-The “garden” as a metaphysical space, garden as a state of mind.

-The “Landscape architecture” of Gilles Clément: his “Planetary Garden” conception of biosphere and the importance of biodiversity.

- Art & its spaces: when Art meets Architecture (the sculptures and installations of Simon Benetton, Pesce, Tolomeo among others)

-Art and urbanism: aspects of individual creativity when meeting in collective spaces of our contemporary urban scenario (Missoni and the gowns&gadgets created by the students of Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia).

Projects by architects&designers of international renown (such as Renzo Piano, Paolo Portoghesi, Missoni, Pesce, Munari, Tolomeo) and artworks by major artists, painters and photographers will lead the way to a discussion involving both artists and students from different areas, with topics pivoting around the major themes and issues of sustainable architecture, agri-tecture and biodiversity&urbanism.

The students of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia, under the guidance of Prof. Zennaro, will create a series of mosaics together with new dresses, gowns and gadgets made of recycled materials and explicitly inspired by ecological themes and natural forms.

Carlo Damiani  Venice – July 2010