Four projects have been selected for the 25th edition of the International Garden Festival in Grand-Métis, Quebec, called The Ecology of Possibility.
In celebration of its 25th anniversary, Ève De Garie-Lamanque, artistic director, has invited designers to imagine the future of the garden. A total of 216 projects were submitted by designers from 30 countries.
The four gardens selected for the 2024 edition include the following.
Couleur Nature by Vanderveken, Architecture + Paysage | Saint-Lambert, Québec, Canada
Couleur Nature is a study into the roles gardens play in society. The installation strives to juxtapose two visions of the garden. It compares the great areas of utilitarian lawn and individual leisure devices with poor social and ecological indicators with contemplative gardens with high reflexive and ecological indicators. Additionally, it demonstrates the “absurdity of a dominant mono-culture.”
FUTURE DRIFTS by Julia Lines Wilson | United States
In the first year of the festival, priority plant species were identified for habitat protection in the St. Lawrence Vision 2000 Action Plan. Among these species was the Anticosti Aster, a cross between New York and Rush Asters. Despite habitat protection, the Anticosti and Rush Asters remain endangered species 25 years later. This garden poses the following as a question on the past and future: “If New York and Rush Asters crossed again, what would that look like? What possible futures can be sown by these species’ interactions?”
Rue Liereman / Organ Man Street by Pioniersplanters | Belgium
In densely populated and urbanized areas such as Flanders, the fraction of land occupied by domestic or private gardens is estimated to be 12 per cent which is equivalent to four times the total surface area of natural areas in the region. As a result, domestic gardens have the potential to help reduce the effects of climate change and stop the impoverishment of biodiversity as long as they are designed and maintained naturally.
Superstrata by mat-on | Italy
This year’s theme, The Ecology of Possibility emphasizes the value and interconnectedness of life forms and ecosystems. The garden proposal illustrates “the tension between nature’s freedom and humanity’s inclination to impose order” and uses a geological map as a metaphor. The installation highlights the co-creation of landscapes by human and non-human entities and showcases the interconnected nature of their interactions.
This year, three projects also received a special mention from the jury. They include Welcome, Yellow Bricks Garden, by Azzurra Brugiotti (Italy), En Équilibre, by Sonia and Natalia Dacko (Spain), and Aguas, by Jomarly Cruz Galarza and Virgen Berrios Torres (Puerto Rico).
This year’s jury included Ron Williams, architect and landscape architect AAPQ CSLA, FCSLA FRAIC, Jérôme Lapierre, architect OAQ, founder of Jérôme Lapierre Architecte, Marie Claude Massicotte, senior landscape architect AAPQ CSLA and member of the Festival’s board of directors, Alexander Reford, director of the Reford Gardens / International Garden Festival, Ève De Garie-Lamanque, artistic director of the International Garden Festival, and François Leblanc, technical coordinator of the International Garden Festival.
This year’s edition of the festival will take place from June 22 to October 6, 2024. In celebration of its 25th anniversary, various projects including a symposium are on the agenda.