The Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay, who died in 2006, once famously stated that “Certain gardens are described as retreats when they are really attacks.” What did Finlay mean? The garden, in its long history, has fulfilled many roles: a display of power, wealth and influence; a delineation of territory; a botanical storehouse; a medicinal repository; a place of relaxation. The list is seemingly endless. Finlay’s own garden, named Little Sparta because it was pitted in opposition to Edinburgh, Athens of North, was many things but might be best described as a gesamkunstwerk – an all-encompassing vision where ideas, philosophies, histories and complex ironies coalesced, carved out of the barren, windswept Pentland Hills south of Edinburgh.
Most people equate gardens with ideas of nature and although this is part of their function, they are generally works of artifice, human constructs controlled and contrived. In different ways and with a staggering variety of means, they meld culture and nature. The pioneering botanist, ecologist and town planner, Patrick Geddes (1854-1932) who spent a good deal of time in Edinburgh, conceived of the garden as a breathing space where people could escape the congested urban environment and seek sanctuary in the soothing peace and colour a garden affords. His mantra “By leaves we live” was a short-hand way of describing the complex ecological web of which humanity is a part. Without plants and trees, human life on earth certainly would not be possible.
The public urban garden is a way of bringing nature to the city, of greening the environment, a place for solace, relaxation; a place to stroll or sit; a time-out zone from the frenetic pace of life in which most people are now caught up.
With such ideas and histories in mind the Edinburgh International Festival invited the curator Katrina Brown to conceive of a series of events which celebrate and draw attention to the vital role gardens can play in our in our everyday lives, as well as acknowledging their complex histories.
Brown invited the internationally acclaimed artists Michael Lin, Apolonija Šušteršič and Richard Wright to respond to the idea of the garden in the urban context. Each of the three has produced a separate artwork, sited outdoors, in which the public are invited to consider the garden as a social construct rather than a natural space.
Brown comments, “the exhibition, Jardins Publics draws inspiration form a number of things, including the work of Patrick Geddes, who of course lived in Edinburgh for much of his life. The exhibition was conceived in response to and as a way of thinking about Edinburgh and I was particularly drawn to just how current Geddes’ gardening ethos and projects in the Old Town now seem…Geddes, Voltaire and Hamilton Finlay are really the triumvirate of voices behind the idea.
Brown’s citation of Voltaire seems particularly apposite in this context given the writer’s complex theories on man and nature and the final sentence in his famous satire, Candide – “We must cultivate our garden.”
Brown’s choice of the artists Lin, Šušteršič and Wright seems particularly apposite given the fact that each has previous experience of working on a large scale on publicly acessible projects. Lin, who was born in Tokyo and divides his time between Paris and Shanghai, is fascinated by Taiwanese floral motifs and he has incorporated this visual icongraphy into large scale mural works – from the exterior of a museum in Lyon to a skateboard ramp in Shanghai. Brown was attracted to Lin’s work by what she desribes as its ‘scale, colour and generosity’.
In a highly prolific career, Šušteršič, who originally trained as an architect, was born in Ljubljana but is based in Amsterdam. She has shown work in places as diverse as Santiago di Compostela, Bremen the Berlin Biennale and Dundee. For a number of years her practice has centred around an ivestigation of “how people and society are related to public space”. Brown describes her approach as encompassing “participation, engagement, social responsibility”.
Richard Wright, who was born in London but lives in Glasgow, has also exhibited internationally, as well as showing in Edinburgh and Glasgow. His work is best characterised by its ephemerality – he often creates site-specific works by painting and drawing directly onto the walls in the places where he exhibits. Brown suggests that Wright’s work is notable for its “care, contemplation, visual experience” Elsewhere his work has been described as “articulat[ing] an optical experience, the space between the viewer and the place.”
Brown, who has spent a good deal of time considering and planning this unusual project says, “I hope people engage with each piece in its own way and enjoy the exhibition as a way of looking at Edinburgh and its very particular make-up: with Michael’s project in the heart of the city at Princes Street Gardens; Apolonija in the heart of the Old Town in Chessel’s Court off the Royal Mile and Richard in a characteristically grand space in the New Town.”
The work of all three of these artists is open to the public throughout the Festival and situated within easy walking distance of Edinburgh city centre. It’s probable that Voltaire, Geddes and Hamilton Finlay would have approved.
Jardins Publics runs from Friday 10 August – Sunday 2 September, Edinburgh City Centre.
Visit www.eif.co.uk for more details.
