Garden Futures: Design that grows @ Vandalorum

Stefano Boeri, Bosco Verticale, Milan, 2014 © Stefano Boeri Architetti. Photo: The Blink Fish, 2018.

Vandalorum can proudly present Garden Futures, the first exhibition that explores the garden’s history, present and future from a global perspective. Where do today’s garden ideals come from and which models are on the rise? For many artists, designers and landscape architects, the garden is a laboratory for new ideas, a place to imagine how we can achieve a better future. In a time characterized by climate crisis, globalization and uncertainty around food supply, the garden has become perhaps our most democratic experimental space for sustainability, biodiversity and social justice. The exhibition addresses these questions, and many more, using a wide range of examples from art, design, everyday culture and landscape architecture – from deckchairs to vertical urban gardens, from collective gardens to living buildings, from art projects to naturalistic oases.

Zheng Guogu, Liao Garden, Yangjiang, China, 2017, started from 2005 Courtesy of Zheng Guogu and Vitamin Creative Space.

Ulla Molin’s garden in Höganäs. Photo: Gabriella Dahlman.

Stefano Boeri Architetti, Bosco Verticale (Vertical Forest), Milan, 2007–2014 © Stefano Boeri Architetti. Photo: Dimitar Harizanov, 2020.

Kieran Dodds, Debre Ensesa, Ethiopia, 2018. Photo: Kieran Dodds.

Julien de Cerval, The Gardens of Marqueyssac, France, designed in the 1860s © Laugery – The Gardens of Marqueyssac, Dordogne, France.

Derek Jarman, Prospect Cottage Garden at Dungeness, Kent, UK, designed from 1986. Photo: Howard Sooley, 1993.

Céline Baumann, Parliament of Plants, 2020 © Studio Céline Baumann.

The exhibition is produced by Vitra Design Museum, Wüstenrot Foundation and Nieuwe Instituut, in collaboration with Vandalorum. It is designed by the award-winning design duo FormaFantasma (Italy, Guest of Honor at Stockholm Furniture Fair 2024). The exhibition contains works by more than 100 artists, designers, landscape architects etc., including Aino Aalto (Finland, b. 1894-1949), Marjan van Aubel (Netherlands, b. 1985), Stefano Boeri (Italy, b. 1956), Roberto Burle Marx (Brazil, 1909-94), Zheng Guogu (China, b. 1970), Derek Jarman (Great Britain, 1942-94), Alexandra Kehayoglou (Argentina, b. 1982), Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua & Barbuda/USA, b. 1949), Peter Korn (Sweden , b 1973), Ulla Molin (Sweden, 1909-97), Märta Måås-Fjetterström (Sweden, 1873-1941), Piet Oudolf (Netherlands, b 1944) and Mien Ruys (Netherlands, 1904-99).

Piet Oudolf, Oudolf Garten on the Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, 2020 © Vitra. Photo: Dejan Jovanovic.

Piet Oudolf at Vandalorum
Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf’s monumental garden for Vandalorum, which will be completed in the spring of 2024, forms a central part of the exhibition. Oudolf is a pioneer in the movement that since the 1980s has worked for alternatives to decorative and strictly maintained gardens. The inspiration is instead drawn from nature’s vegetation, with a focus on perennials, grasses and shrubs that are not traditionally considered garden plants. The plants are selected based on color, texture and sculptural quality, to appeal in all four seasons.

For the exhibition, a new film is recorded by Tomas Boman (b. 1965) and Kajsa Andersö (b. 1962) which follows the work with the creation of Piet Oudolf’s garden at Vandalorum. Boman and Andersö have worked in Swedish film since the 1980s and have made films about e.g. Gert Wingårdh, Gunnar Asplund, Sigurd Lewerentz and Liljevalch’s extension.

Piet Oudolf, Oudolf Garten on the Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, 2020 © Vitra. Photo: Dejan Jovanovic.

Garden Futures at Vandalorum is made possible by
Hasselfors Garden, Sweden Green House, Mats Skogsfors, Tore G Wärenstam Foundation

Vandalorum’s program activities are carried out with the support of
The Cultural Council, Region Jönköping County, Värnamo Municipality, Vandalorums Partners: the Hamrin, Liljedahl, Svenstig families Thanks also to Nelson Garden, Hjalmar Wicander’s Foundation, Bertil & Britt Svensson’s Foundation for Lighting Technology, the Design Museum and the Finnish Architecture Museum in Helsinki Curators: Vitra Design Museum: Viviane Stappmanns, Nina Steinmüller Nieuwe Instituut: Marten Kuijpers, Maria Heinrich

VANDALORUM Skulpturvägen 2, 33144 Värnamo. Tel. 0370-30 22 00
info@vandalorum.se • www.vandalorum.se

Vandalorum, photo: Deltavormgroep; Piet Oudolf, Oudolf Garten on the Vitra Campus, Weil am Rhein, 2020 © Vitra, photo: Dejan Jovanovic; Derek Jarman, Prospect Cottage Garden at Dungeness, Kent, 1986, photo: Howard Sooley, 1993; The black garden rug designed in 1923 by Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Photo Anette Nilsson / MMF AB; Stefano Boeri, Bosco Verticale, Milan, 2014 © Stefano Boeri Architetti, photo: The Blink Fish, 2018