Art Of The Day Weekly
#429 - from 5 May 2016 to 11 May 2016
Gardens galore
CHAUMONT-SUR-LOIRE – Long, long ago there was a Garden of Eden. But our memories waver. We know more or less what medieval gardens looked like, those of Le Nôtre and our contemporary ones, a result of planet-wide cross breeding. But what about the gardens of the future? That is the prospective exercise the international garden festival is making a try for, as it celebrates its 25th anniversary. Some themes have been enticing, such as eroticism, the capital punishments, delirium. The one of 2016 is just as captivating. It confronts us with a series of techniques and progress, with titles worthy of ‘Questions for a champion’: permaculture, aquaponics, phyto-remediation or grain bombs… Fortunately “vertical farms” are easier to visualize. Plants that store water, produce electricity or light, eliminate pollution but know how to remain beautiful. Acanthus mollis, butomus umbellatus, borago officinalis: in Chaumont, they are the stars and they hold a part of our future…
• Festival international des jardins at the domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire, from 21 April to 2 November 2016.