The Garden of Knowledge looks almost like a fairy-tale scene to visitors. Created in 2010 for the International Garden Festival at Les Jardins de Métis in Quebec, it placed books directly into the forest as a living, changing installation.
The books were stacked to form walls, rooms, benches and floors, surrounding visitors with a temporary reading room in nature.
Over time, the paper became a habitat: insects, seeds, fungi and mold entered the work, while the colors of the covers slowly faded and culture returned to the natural cycle of decomposition.
The process was deliberately encouraged rather than left wholly to chance. The work was conceived as an open-air installation in which weather, decay and plant life would transform the books over time, making them seem as old and wise as the trees around them.
The poetic idea was developed by Berlin landscape architect Thilo Folkerts of 100 Landschaftsarchitektur and Canadian artist Rodney LaTourelle.
miranda_shida
Anna Lohan
Peter Dark
