Garden Futures: Designing with Nature

The garden is once again in the spotlight, not only as an idyllic retreat, but also as a testing ground for new ideas and experiments around biodiversity, social justice and a sustainable future. The exhibition 'Gardens of the Future' was previously on display as Garden Futures at the Vitra Design Museum.

Personal gardens

In Gardens of the Future you will see gardens by designers and artists such as Roberto Burle Marx, Jamaica Kincaid, Mien Ruys, Piet Oudolf and Derek Jarman. The garden of landscape designer Burle Marx grew into an experimental landscape laboratory where he played with volumes, colours, textures and perspectives. For writer Jamaica Kincaid from Antigua, her garden in Vermont in the US has been the place where she connects with her own history and memories for thirty years. Filmmaker Derek Jarman cherished his garden on the inhospitable coast of Kent in the face of his own mortality at the height of the AIDS crisis.

Politics and commerce

But gardens are not always an expression of our personal preferences or motivations – they are also shaped by political or commercial interests. Take the colonial trade that introduced us to tropical plants in the 19th century, or the (vegetable) garden as a form of self-sufficiency and food security in times of war and scarcity. The exhibition also shows how our taste has adapted to the beautiful promises of manufacturers of garden tools, fertilizers and patio furniture.

Sustainable gardens

Nowadays, the garden is increasingly seen as part of an ecological system, rather than a demarcated piece of land. This leads to numerous experiments with alternative, sustainable garden concepts. The exhibition shows examples of winter gardens, vertical forests, community gardens, floating gardens, school gardens, roof greenhouses, food forests, urban farms and forest gardens.

With Rotterdam gardens and landscapes

The Dutch edition of the exhibition is supplemented with work by garden and landscape designers Michael van Gessel and Henk Gerritsen, and with Rotterdam gardens and landscapes, such as the garden village of Vreewijk, but also current, nature-inclusive design initiatives such as Brienenoord Island, Wijktuin Ommoord, Hofbogen and the Nieuwe Tuin.

Vitra Design Museum

Gardens of the Future was developed as Garden Futures in collaboration with Vitra Design Museum and the cultural and heritage foundation Wüstenrot Stiftung. The exhibition was previously on display at Vitra in Weil am Rhein, Germany.