Courtesy of Nature
Installation contextuelle, Jardins de Métis/ Reford Gardens, Métis, QC. Canada
Courtesy of Nature is an ambiguous intervention open to multiple interpretations that aims to leave the visitor in a state of mental suspension. This contextual installation invites the visitor to reflect upon our relation to nature within the field of garden architecture. Is nature something to cherish? To protect? To tame? To exploit? What if instead of designing the content we solely concentrated on designing the container? Instead of creating a new object to be placed in an existing exhibition space, an exhibition space is designed around existing elements. Could, by doing so, a new light be projected on what belongs to the local environment, making the seemingly banal appear extraordinary? The museum is, after all, a place conceived for seeing.
The installation comprises a white volume with an open roof constructed around a piece of existing local vegetation in the woodland or in a clearing. The local context is not altered, but part of it is temporarily isolated in order to create an indoor vegetal isle evoking an art work. On entering this volume you would logically expect to find yourself indoors. All the more surprising then when that indoors turns out to illustrate a portion of the outdoors. The paving would for example consist of white bricks without mortar in-between referring to indoor flooring. On the edges all around the ‘forest piece’ the soil would partially lie on the paving, enhancing the alienating effect of the installation. This tranquil space alludes to a museum room where landscape has become interior, its dimension tamed by architectural means.
