With pressure on urban space increasing as populations grow and building becomes more intensive, will gardens be a less common sight in future cities? Those interested in this subject (who happen to be in London this weekend) might enjoy the Serpentine Gallery’s Garden Marathon.
‘A product of the creative encounter between the man-made and the natural, between order and disorder, the garden can offer productive metaphors for the interactions between human life and time, care, thought or space.’
Held annually in west London’s Kensington Gardens, this sixth Garden Marathon aims to be ‘an exploration of the concept of the garden’. Anyone looking for direct analysis of the future of urban gardening is likely to be disappointed, but if you’re up for a creative exploration of of the concept of ‘the garden’, this could be right up your street. Literally, if you happen to live in west London.
As we’ve seen with New York’s High Line, if you are prepared to reinterpret green space, the results can be impressive. Pictured below is a selection of the work present at this year’s Garden Marathon. You can find out more about the event here.
Charles Jencks – The Avenue of Doubles focuses through a sewer pipe on a volcano 375 million years old
Elizabeth Diller – The High Line, New York
Fritz Haeg – Edible Estate Regional Prototype Garden
Somthing & Son – Guangju Biennale installation
Mierle Laderman Ukeles – Galaxy, 2002
Giuseppe Penone – Idee di pietra, 2003
Photos: Stuart Frisby and Serpentine Gallery
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