Marcia Caines

JARDIN MANDALA, Gilles Clément, environmental art, PAV 2010, photo Mattia Boero

The Earth’s carrying capacity is finite, which means that in order to avoid an ecological overshoot society needs to create new social, economical and political models. Our current models are limited because they require the consumption of ever more resources to grow, while the environment presents insurmountable limits to this growth. The focus should shift from growth to survival.

As the world’s population becomes increasingly more urban than rural the problem intensifies because creating and maintaining cities puts enormous strain on the biosphere, threatening the survival of mankind and the countless other species that inhabit the planet. Designing hybrid vehicles, inventing smart technologies and crafting governmental policies is not enough to guarantee a sustainable future in an urban age: we need to re-establish humanity’s bond with nature within the built environment, and to perceive cities as complex eco-systems as opposed to theatres of spectacle and consumption. A lot is already being done: weatherizing houses, urban farming, rain water collection, thermal storage techniques, and plant use on rooftops and building surfaces, are just a few example of how urban systems are emulating natural systems to reduce and recylce waste, renew energy and preserve biodiversity, but the real challenge remains a cultural one: What do we know about the other species that inhabit the earth? What can we learn from them? How can we sensitise people towards them, especially in urban environments where they are often ‘unseen’? Maybe artists and gardeners can help.


JARDIN MANDALA, courtesy, PAV 2010

The Park of Living Art, (PAV) in Torino is a space dedicated to the experimentation of contemporary art. The bio-climatic structure, designed by landscape architect Gianluca Cosmacini, is situated on an ex-industrial site of approximately 23,000 mq that includes an outdoor exhibition space, a wild garden, an interactive museum, a research lab and space for public encounter and dialogue on questions concerning art, science, nature and biotechnologies.

On May 27 2010, PAV inaugurated Jardin Mandala a garden on the building’s walkable rooftop designed by the French gardener, landscape designer, botanist and writer, Gilles Clément (Paris, 1943). Jardin Mandala is a site-specific garden designed on the principles of symbiosis that consists of 1600 plants covering 500mq to form a Mandala, traditionally made from sand and pigments to emphasize the delicacy and impermanence of existence. There are nine varieties of sedums and graminaceous plants distributed in lots of little beds of Pozzolana (crushed bricks and volcanic rock) in repeated sequences and divided by gravel and wood walkways, in two points there are drawings by Clément’s engraved into cement which represent the natural cycle of energy flows in trees grass. The aesthetic harmony of Clément’s project however is not the focal point, the choice of plants and peat were intentional due to their particular characteristics: adaptability to arid weather conditions; low water intake and low maintenance. Jardin Mandala auto-regulates itself.

JARDIN MANDALA, Gilles Clément, environmental art, PAV 2010, photo Mattia Boero

Jardin Mandala as Clément explains represents: ‘both the container and the content’ and is part of a deeper discourse that seeks to engage people in the biosphere as a systemic whole, this philosophical approach to gardening lies in his belief that cultivating the garden (earth) ensures the survival of the gardener (man), and as we have run out of planet to exploit in this context the garden becomes the best medicine for the current global crisis. According to Clément there is significant potential in the abandoned industrial sites of cities, which he refers to as the ‘third landscape’, as they provide refuge for natural diversity and represent unique eco-systems of which humans are a co-dependant part.

Jardin Mandala in the middle of PAV’s wild parkland and surrounded by industrial buildings, high rise condos and busy roads, is a green oasis, an autonomous garden, a space for reflection, an invitation to regain ecological consciousness and an excellent start in the process of giving cities back to nature.