Posted by Harry
Shows | 04 Apr 07 | Comments (1)
Sound is the theme for five new gardens in this year’s edition of the IGF. “The 8th edition of the International Garden Festival celebrates sound, one of the essential yet frequently overlooked senses in the garden experience. From the barely audible to the highly melodic sound resonates in the contemporary garden”. In these new gardens designers have proposed different ways that sound may have an impact on visitors' experience and heighten their awareness of the audible in the landscape. These collaborations between landscape architects, architects and sound artists, transform the gardens into musical instruments that include sound elements activated through the movement of the visitor, or are pure soundscapes. “From the electronic treatment of the sound of poplar trees to the harmonic resonances of sonic cubes in a water garden, visitors are invited to explore the landscape in new and exciting ways.”. More after the jump.
Here are the five new gardens:
"Angela Iarocci, Claire Ironside and David Ross, from Ontario and Québec, have conceived Pomme de parterre, in which the lowly spud becomes a generator of light and sound, creating a visual and sonorous environment within a potato patch.
Traversée, by [The User] (Emmanuel Madan and Thomas McIntosh) is a water garden in which the very act of walking is translated into a gesture that generates music.
Soundfield, by Doug Moffat and Steve Bates, is an open-ended listening experience in which electronically treated sounds of poplar trees are transmitted within a buffer of these same trees.
In La boîte noire by Jasmin Corbeil & Stéphane Bertrand with Jean-Maxime Dufresne, the sounds of children's voices emanate from an enigmatic black box that rises out of a fallow field.
Cat's Cradle by Catalyse Urbaine (Juliette Patterson and Michel Langlois) with Gerard Leckey, is a garden-sized aeolian harp, in which a lattice of piano strings, objects, and plantings combine to transform the site into a veritable musical instrument.
In addition, a special environmental project by 5.5 designers (Jean-Sébastien Blanc, Anthony Lebossé, Vincent Baranger, and Claire Renard) will be presented. Fleur de pot consists of biodegradable oversized flower pots that gradually become miniature gardens."
Due to technical and budgetary restraints, Traversée, by [The User] (Emmanuel Madan and Thomas McIntosh) was not built this year. There may be plans to add it in the coming years but I believe it was seen as too complex for this year.