In a city like Los
Angeles, with its constructed landscapes, concrete river, and
imported palm trees, a show about gardens is obliged to be about
more than pretty greenery and idyllic nature. The garden has become
a battleground, after all, as proven by “the gardenLAb
experiment,” currently being conducted in the Wind Tunnel
exhibition space at the Art Center College of Design, located in
Pasadena, California. Artists, architects, designers,
environmentalists, gardeners, and writers have taken on the ecology
of Los Angeles for the six-week-long show, which runs through Oct.
16. With over 50 installations and events, as well as weekly
programs including lectures, talks, screenings, and picnics, the
exhibit, curated by Fritz Haeg and Francois Perrin, is an extensive
comment on, rather than cohesive statement about, our environment.
Gardens
are by definition man-made, but many of the works in the show twist
this fact into something more sinister. At the exhibit’s entrance,
Philip Ross’ “Juggernaut” plant exists in a completely
glass-enclosed world, looking like the last living thing: a curio
for future generations. Matias Viegener and David Burns have decided
that a plant should be taught “about the humans that control its
fate” and have instituted a school for corn, where books and
recordings send osmotic streams of Marxist philosophy at germinating
plants. The most overtly political piece, Michael Pinto’s “Starch
Reality,” illustrates our inability to control nature. The pixilated
portrait of George W. Bush is made of different types of bread, each
representing one of his specific environmental policies. Each type
of bread produces a different type of mold, which battle to take
over the portrait.
Some
of the artists in the exhibition even question our right to be here.
The beaches that are L.A.’s parks can be undemocratic places, as
revealed in Jenny Price and David Kipen’s “Malibu Project,” which
imagines more honest versions of the ubiquitous “private property”
signs that landowners plant to hinder public access to public
beaches. Yet challenging this exclusion is Karin Johansson’s “Who is
really from here, anyway?” photo installation, which features
pictures of non-natives. Non-native plants, that is.
Recycling—a
political stand in itself—and finding inspiration in urban detritus
is illustrated physically in several of the show’s installations.
For example, “Shade,” by M&A and the L.A. Needle Exchange,
comprises thousands of recycled plastic grocery bags, crocheted
together to create a 10-by-fifteen foot awning. Ecoshack’s Greentent
design competition, where participants were asked to create an
environmentally sustainable camping shelter useable in the Mojave
Desert, also resulted in numerous innovative pieces, including a
structure made of recycled PVC piping and adjustable solar
panels.
Like
a living garden, the GardenLAb show also changes over time. OdescO
and Axel Kilian’s “Nano_City” changes every millisecond,
illustrating a parable of a city on the move, destroying and
creating nature in its path. “Blown By,” by Nadine Schelbert, Lisa
Tchakmakian, and Tony Di Carlo, features a massive plastic balloon
that constantly shrinks and expands, responding to temperature and
humidity. Then, there is the collective known as 66xv//, which
offers “Moisture,” a compost pile that slowly decomposes as the
plants it feeds grow.
The
question of the show is really what happens outside the Wind Tunnel:
whether the art turns into activism, on a political or personal
level. The Path to Freedom information booth, run by the Dervaes
family, who farm their own food, shows how you too can become an
urban homesteader. The L.A. Urban Rangers give some guidance for
day-to-day living: “Wear sunscreen” and “When you’re on the
Westside, breathe deeply—the air’s better over there.” In a campfire
talk, ranger Emily Scott tells us how to “Learn to Love Your Freeway
Landscape.”
In
all, “the gardenLAb experiment” sends a clear sign that once again,
it is time to cultivate our gardens—our streets, our river, our
freeways, our citizens.
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Philip
Ross’s, “Juggernaut”: a self-contained survival capsule
for one living plant. The glass enclosures create a
controlled hydroponic environment, the LED lights supply
the necessary illumination, and the nutrient-infused
water provides necessary food. |
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