Festival | Presentation
Ranked among the leading garden festivals in the world, the International Garden Festival at Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens presents temporary gardens at the cutting edge of garden design, landscape, architecture, design and environmental art. Launched in 2000, the International Garden Festival has presented over 80 gardens by more than 200 designers from fifteen countries and has attracted more than 800,000 visitors. It is an exceptional showcase and launching pad for the participating designers from a host of disciplines. This artistic and tourism event also gives visitors a chance to discover inspiring gardens by some of the best designers working in the landscape.
The garden is a world where man and nature observe and complement each other.
“We must cultivate our garden", said Voltaire in Candide: Or, The Optimist (1759); Voltaire spoke of our inner world, but isn’t the garden also a reflection of our soul? From the beginning, gardens have always been an interpretation of our world’s view. The history of the garden is intimately linked to the history of our visual desires and to our history in general. The development of the gardens led to the construction of many cultures, both in the West and East, and through the garden it is our roots, our dreams, our thirst for the exotic that we express, as well as a powerful idea of how should be paradise on earth. Unlike other forms of art, the garden offers a total experience, involving all our senses from vision to touch, and feeling to hearing. But, unlike architecture, the garden is a living material which provides an experience that changes every second. This breath of life makes the garden even more precious, mysterious, attractive and essential. Thus, the garden is a refuge for our collective unconscious; it is also a place where nature and culture should express themselves freely, without taboos.
Therefore, the existence of an international festival of gardens appears essential to our present world. The art of the garden is unknown, yet the contemporary garden and landscape architecture are key actors in resolving conflicts of space and social issues at the heart of modern cities. The International Garden Festival is an extraordinary laboratory that allows designers of all disciplines, to test, imagine and push to the limits the language and the world of gardens. This year we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Festival. The creations presented underline the Festival’s first decade with strength, enthusiasm and humour. I hope you will be carried away by the ideas, the emotions and the atmosphere that live in each garden. I wish you a happy Festival and look forward to seeing you next year!
Emmanuelle Vieira
Artistic director of the International Garden Festival
