Monastic garden in an edge space of a retail park, London, UK
Space that is on the peripheries of major roads and towns has a distinctly singular usage: to consume. Out of town shopping malls, retail parks have an inexplicable draw, yet they also have land surrounding them often has no social designation other than as being ‘waste’. To enter spaces that have no specific usage becomes an act of trespass in contrast to the regulated navigation of commercial spaces.
It was my intentions to redress this balance by engaging in elicit horticulture in a space next to a busy ring road of North London. I was intending to make a replica monastic garden, which had reference in terms of its architecture with the surrounding retail space and particularly with the architecture of Ikea. Within Ikea, more than most retail spaces there is a sense of being herded. There are ways to bypass the show room but to navigate these one has to go against the flow of the shop. Bash into trolleys full of tea lights and flat pack furniture.
Growing herbs that are medicinal and plants for their floral qualities the garden I was intending to make would have a contemplative purpose. Perhaps here one could reflect on the actions involved in retail; the psychological signage employed by retail, a sophisticated combination of sight and sound. I found a site that I deemed to be appropriate and started to clear an area to develop but when I started to dig the earth (an inch thick blanket of moss) I discovered that what lay beneath was reinforced concrete, that without heavy machinery I could not penetrate. The project reached a natural conclusion but I still visit the site to plant the occasional plant in the hope that the seeds will spread.
Monastic garden in an edge space of a retail park, London, UK
Space that is on the peripheries of major roads and towns has a distinctly singular usage: to consume. Out of town shopping malls, retail parks have an inexplicable draw, yet they also have land surrounding them often has no social designation other than as being ‘waste’. To enter spaces that have no specific usage becomes an act of trespass in contrast to the regulated navigation of commercial spaces.
It was my intentions to redress this balance by engaging in elicit horticulture in a space next to a busy ring road of North London. I was intending to make a replica monastic garden, which had reference in terms of its architecture with the surrounding retail space and particularly with the architecture of Ikea. Within Ikea, more than most retail spaces there is a sense of being herded. There are ways to bypass the show room but to navigate these one has to go against the flow of the shop. Bash into trolleys full of tea lights and flat pack furniture.
Growing herbs that are medicinal and plants for their floral qualities the garden I was intending to make would have a contemplative purpose. Perhaps here one could reflect on the actions involved in retail; the psychological signage employed by retail, a sophisticated combination of sight and sound. I found a site that I deemed to be appropriate and started to clear an area to develop but when I started to dig the earth (an inch thick blanket of moss) I discovered that what lay beneath was reinforced concrete, that without heavy machinery I could not penetrate. The project reached a natural conclusion but I still visit the site to plant the occasional plant in the hope that the seeds will spread.