THE RE-BAR GARDEN
COMPETION ENTRY /CHAUMONT-SUR-LOIRE INTERNATIONAL LANDSCAPE FESTIVAL
SUBMISSION DATE: SPRING 2012
TYPE: INSTALLATION/ LANDSCAPE
The re-bar garden challenges our pre-conceived notions of garden by playing on reversals, paradoxes and contrasts. The garden, densely populated by the 350 recycled re-bars, first and foremost challenges the notion of ground as granted. By covering the entire garden surface of re-bars - except for the path -, our awareness of a perceptible but not physically accessible space is enhanced. As the path meanders through the space of the garden, one is surrounded by the re-bars of different heights, navigating through a space that is densely ‘planted’ and yet contains a bare appearance. The variation in the re-bars’ height, mimicking an extended canopy of trees, creates gentle undulations. As if holding up an invisible mass of the earth, the re-bars also bring to mind wilds grass fields, or tree trunks in the forest. Filling up the space in between the sky and the earth, the re-bars emphasize the existence of both elements by their insertion into one as well as their upholding of the other.
The planting areas follow the imprint of an ordered grid and a number of geometric rules. They are planted with different climbers, which will twine and rise as the time passes. While Climbers have historically been used to demarcate boundaries or celebrate specific moments, in this garden, they create a magical apparition of an unexpected nature. The roughness of the re-bars, juxtaposed to the soft and mischievous curves of the twining plants, creates contrasted texture and the proximity of natural and man-made elements will bring about delight.