Geometric Gardens

‘A garden is not nature; it is a work of man. I would like to define the garden as a sophisticated form of farming, a perfection of agriculture.’ – C.Th. Sørensen

For Het Nieuwe Instituut I’ve curated a mini expo on the Geometric Gardens by C.Th. Sørensen.

The Geometric Gardens are located in a forest clearing near the Herning Art Museum in Herning (DK). The garden was designed in 1956 by Danish landscape architect C.Th. Sørensen (1893 – 1979) but wasn’t realised in its original size till 1983, when the Association of Danish Landscape Architects constructed the garden to commemorate their 50th anniversary.

The composition consists of nine geometric shapes; an eleven meters long disc, six polygons with eleven meters long sides, a circle and an oval. The whole garden is planted in hornbeam hedges up to 8 meters high, changing the appearance throughout the year. In spring the budding foliage is a fresh green, during summer the hedge colours a darker green and becomes fuller. In autumn the foliage turns brown and leaves start to drop, revealing the structure of the branches. 

Exploring the Geometric Gardens feels like walking through a series of rooms, with hornbeam for walls, grass for a floor and the sky for a ceiling. The spaces in between these rooms form a maze like structure, sometimes leading to another room, sometimes leading out of the structure. 

The pop-in expo was composed of photos by Christina Capetillo, a plan in vinyl on the floor combined with a model made by Joost Emmerik.

The pop-in expo is part of the programme Dissident Gardens, Het Nieuwe Instituut focuses on the most current expressions of the classic struggle between nature and culture. The programme includes five exhibitions and a series of lectures and debates. It questions and investigates the most current manifestations of the classic struggle between nature and culture. The exhibition presents influential contributions from designers, architects and artists that allow us to reflect on our current relationship with nature, living-material innovations and the impact of technology on our lives and our environment.