Gardening

For eras, the garden has been an important source of inspiration for art. From antiquity to our current modern time, and from Western to Eastern civilizations. But in the exhibition Gardening in Flatland, the garden as a subject is subordinate to something else – or even entirely absent. The focus of attention is on the idea of Gardening as representative of a good lifestyle or – ‘the good life’. Like Aristoteles’ Eudaimonia, in which ‘the good life’ is considered a dynamic activity, an attitude rather than a goal.

This idea behind ‘the good life’ is supported by professor David E. Copper in his A Philosophy of Gardens (Oxford University Press). According to Cooper, gardening makes people happy. He claims that this is due to the fact that people must plod but can also appreciate the sweet pleasure of creation after. In that way, the exhibition Gardening is both about the state of eradication (enjoying garden parties, solitary daydreams) and real attention to everything that needs our attention to grow.

Gardening is an exhibition that was put together on a small scale, but provides a wide and thorough view on the conjunction of ‘jungle’ and ‘the lawn’.

Participating artists:
Gioia de Bruijn (1986)
Anouk Griffioen (1979)
Johan Grimonprez (1962)
Matt Henry (1978)
Jocelyn Lee (1962)
Sanja Marušić (1991)
David Verbeek (1980)
Guy Yanai  (1977)