the falling garden::gerda steiner + jörg lenzlinger

 a beautiful concept to begin your week.....

 or make you ball your fists and purse your lips in jealousy. 

every aspect of this is absolute genius.

conceived and executed by Swiss artists gerda steiner and jörg lenzlinger, the falling garden was created for the 50th venice biennial in 2003. It was housed in the church of san stae on the grand canal.


visitors lie on a bed, above the doge's tomb, in the middle of the church and watch, as the garden thinks for them. the idea that modern day artists have collaborated with 17th century architects is staggeringly brilliant. The light, the angles...everything about the space is glorious even before the garden.





and with the installation,  the viewer becomes part of the art as it dances and dangles around them.

 

Components: Plastic berries (India), cow pads (Jura), waste paper (Venice), baobab seeds (Australia), beech, elder and magnolia branches (Uster), thorns (Almeria), nylon blossoms (one-dollar-shop), pigs’ teeth (Indonesia), seaweed (Seoul), orange peel (Migros shop), fertilizer crystals (home grown), pigeons’ bones (San Staë), silk buds (Stockholm), cattail (Ettiswil), cats’ tails (China), celery roots (Montreal), virility rind (Caribbean), wild bore quills (zoo), banana leaves (Murten), rubber snakes (Cincinnati)...