35

35Architecture/Landscape/Political EconomyScapegoat Issue 02 MaterialismScapegoat

upon the present. Exploring the conditions that make representing history possible, the essays in this section try to articulate an account of the shifting role of time in a global scenario defi ned by the logic of the neolib-eral information economy.

Overall, the fi rst issue of No Order makes a compelling case for the need to turn our attention to the conditions of art’s production and display; to art as a place of labour, confl ict, and potential subversion. At the same time, its very size, the range of its coverage, and the star status of several of its contributors beg the question of the role of competitive theoretical overproduction under the current regime of cognitive capitalism—a question, incidentally, that Penzin and Vilensky explicitly raise in their contribution to the fi rst section of the magazine. An additional, related source of uneasiness is the absence of any acknowledge-ment of the fact that some of the essays are reprints. Willats’s text, for one, was originally published in 2003 by Artlab in collaboration with Control Magazine, the pioneering artist magazine published and edited by Willats himself since 1965. Similarly, Penzin and Vilensky’s conversation is illustrated with reproduc-tions of covers (designed by Vilensky) of the magazine Chto Delat?/What is to be done?, but the latter is nowhere acknowledged as the text’s original source (the conversation appeared in the March 2009 issue). Let’s be clear: the issue here is not intellectual owner-ship, but the transparency of networks of cultural production—those very networks whose exposure is so convincingly positioned by No Order as one of the essential functions of art discourse in the present historical moment.

Francesco Gagliardi is an artist based in Toronto.

Notes

1. Hito Steyerl, “Politics of Art: Contemporary Art and the Transition to Post-Democracy,” e-flux journal 21 (Dec. 2010), accessed November 7, 2011, www.e-flux.com/journal/view/181

2. Julieta Aranda, Anton Vidokle, Brian Kuan Wood, eds., Are You Working Too Much? Post- Fordism, Precarity, and the Labor of Art ( Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2011).

Scapegoat Architecture/Landscape/Political Economy Issue 02 Materialsm

The

Jard

in d

e la

Con

nais

sanc

e is

a t

emp

orar

y g

ard

en c

once

ived

for

the

Inte

rnat

iona

l Gar

den

Fe

stiv

al a

t Le

s Ja

rdin

s d

e M

étis

.1 It

con

sist

s of

m

ulti

-col

oure

d w

ood

en b

oard

s, a

num

ber

of

cult

ivat

ed m

ushr

oom

s, a

nd s

ome

40,0

00 b

ooks

th

at f

orm

wal

ls, b

ench

es, a

nd c

arp

ets.

Bas

ed o

n an

op

en c

omp

osit

iona

l pri

ncip

le, t

hese

ele

men

ts

are

asse

mb

led

to

crea

te a

gar

den

sp

ace

that

is

inte

gra

ted

wit

h b

oth

the

site

and

str

uctu

re o

f th

e fo

rest

.C

eleb

ratin

g bo

ok c

ultu

re a

s an

ong

oing

pr

oces

s of

sha

ping

, aes

thet

iciz

ing,

and

dis

trib

ut-

ing

info

rmat

ion,

the

Jar

din

de la

Con

nais

sanc

e (o

r G

ard

en o

f Cog

nitio

n) d

oes

not

illus

trat

e th

e bo

ok’s

“r

etur

n to

nat

ure”

or

atte

mpt

a b

iblic

al re

conc

ilia-

tion.

It d

oes,

how

ever

, eng

age

with

the

myt

hica

l re

latio

n be

twee

n kn

owle

dge

and

natu

re in

tegr

al t

o th

e co

ncep

t of

“pa

radi

se,”

whi

ch h

as b

een

a pr

ima-

ry re

fere

nce

for

the

gard

en t

hrou

ghou

t hi

stor

y. T

he

“tre

e of

kno

wle

dge”

has

tod

ay b

ecom

e a

fore

st:

a pl

enitu

de o

f mul

timed

ia a

nd a

n ov

erw

helm

ing

w

orld

of i

nfor

mat

ion.

By

usin

g bo

oks

as m

ater

ial i

n th

e co

nstr

uctio

n of

the

gar

den,

we

conf

ront

the

se

inst

rum

ents

of k

now

ledg

e w

ith t

he t

empo

ralit

y of

na

ture

. Tra

nsfo

rmat

ion

and

disi

nteg

ratio

n de

stab

i-liz

e th

e su

ppos

ed t

imel

ess

valu

e of

the

boo

k.Th

e co

mpo

sitio

n of

the

boo

k-vo

lum

es is

str

uc-

ture

d w

ith b

right

ly c

olou

red

woo

d pl

ates

, whi

ch

bind

the

indi

vidu

al s

tack

s to

geth

er. O

ver

time,

the

ar

tifi c

ial c

olou

rs o

f the

se e

lem

ents

will

con

tras

t th

e gr

ayin

g to

nes

of t

he e

xpos

ed p

aper

in t

he b

ooks

an

d th

e su

rrou

ndin

g fo

rest

. Ove

rall,

the

ort

hogo

nal

orga

niza

tion

is re

min

isce

nt o

f a t

ypic

al N

eo-P

last

ic

com

posi

tion

from

the

ear

ly 2

0th

cent

ury,

invo

king

an

opt

imis

tic o

rient

atio

n ba

sed

on “

prim

ary”

ele

-m

ents

. And

yet

, thi

s “u

topi

an”

notio

n is

cou

nter

ed

by t

he g

radu

al d

ecom

posi

tion

of t

he p

aper

mat

e-ria

l. W

e ha

ve t

ried

to im

plem

ent

the

conc

ept

of

tran

sfor

mat

ion

as t

he g

arde

n’s

prim

ary

aest

hetic

st

ruct

ure.

Sev

eral

var

ietie

s of

edi

ble

mus

hroo

ms

are

culti

vate

d on

the

boo

ks. T

hese

acc

entu

ate

the

tran

sfor

mat

ive

proc

ess

of t

he li

tera

rily

fi xed

kn

owle

dge,

invo

king

the

sem

antic

s of

cul

tura

l and

na

tura

l wis

dom

. By

visu

aliz

ing

deca

y as

a li

fecy

cle

segm

ent,

kno

wle

dge

is e

xem

plifi

ed a

s a

proc

ess.

Th

e bo

oks

in t

he g

arde

n ar

e su

rplu

s bo

oks,

su

pplie

d by

loca

l pub

lic li

brar

ies

and

scho

ol in

stitu

-tio

ns. T

here

is a

wid

e va

riety

of s

izes

, for

mat

s an

d

genr

es: f

rom

rom

ance

nov

els

to re

ligio

us t

exts

, sc

ienc

e to

edu

catio

n bo

oks,

thr

iller

s, a

nd e

ncyc

lo-

pedi

as. M

ost

of t

he b

ooks

hav

e be

en w

aitin

g as

re

cycl

ing

mat

eria

l in

stor

age

spac

es in

adv

ance

of

an in

crea

se in

pap

er p

ulp

pric

es (w

hich

did

not

tak

e pl

ace)

. The

dis

card

ed a

nd e

xpos

ed b

ooks

rem

ind

th

e vi

sito

r, so

met

imes

sur

pris

ingl

y, s

omet

imes

pai

n-fu

lly, t

hat

both

nat

ural

pro

cess

es a

nd t

he b

ook

as

med

ium

are

sys

tem

s of

repr

oduc

tion.

Kno

wle

dge

is n

ever

to

be h

ad w

ithou

t ef

fort

and

cul

tivat

ion—

it re

quire

s th

e pr

epar

atio

n of

a s

eedi

ng g

roun

d to

ge

nera

te a

nd b

e cr

eate

d an

ew. T

he J

ardi

n de

la

Con

nais

sanc

e co

uld

be s

een

as p

art

of s

uch

culti

va-

tion:

a li

brar

y, a

n in

form

atio

n pl

atfo

rm, a

dyn

amic

re

alm

of k

now

ledg

e, a

sen

sual

and

inte

ract

ive

read

ing

room

. In

the

gar

den’

s se

cond

yea

r th

e bo

oks

have

gra

yed,

and

mol

d no

w r

ival

s th

e cu

ltiva

ted

m

ushr

oom

s. V

isito

rs h

ave

eter

naliz

ed t

hem

selv

es

and

thei

r lo

ves

with

scr

ibbl

es, t

ags,

and

oth

er

mar

ks. “

Mar

cel a

nd A

man

da,”

an

apho

rism

, or

the

enth

usia

sm fo

r a

boy-

band

hav

e be

en s

ubm

itted

to

the

gard

en’s

par

ticul

ar d

estin

y of

tim

e.

Jard

in d

e la

Co

nnai

ssan

ce10

0Lan

dsc

haft

sarc

hite

ktur

Thilo

Fo

lker

ts +

Ro

dne

y La

Tour

elle

Thilo Folkerts is a landscape architect who

designs, experiments, and constructs. He also

pursues his interest in the unique language of

gardens as an author, editor, and translator.

He founded the office 100Landschaftsarchitektur

in Berlin in 2007. He has realized tempo-

rary and permanent projects internationally

since 1997.

Rodney LaTourelle is a Canadian artist,  writer,

and designer based in Berlin. His artistic

approach is informed by his education in

architecture and landscape architecture. His

site- specific installations have been exhibited

inter nationally, including the National Gallery

of Canada; the University of Quebec, Montreal;

MUDAM, Luxembourg; and Plug In ICA, Winnipeg.

Technical Data

Garden site: ca. 250 m2

ca. 40,000 books = 30-40 tonnes

Building budget: CAD$20,000

Mushrooms: Coprinus comatus (Shaggy Mane),

Grifola frondosa (Hen of the Woods, Maitake),

Pleurotus citrinopileatus (Golden Oyster),

Pleurotus columbinus (Blue Oyster), Pleurotus

djamor (Pink Oyster), Pleurotus ostreatus

(Pearl Oyster), Pleurotus pulmonarius (Phoenix,

Indian Oyster), and Stropharia rugoso-annulata

(Wine Cap).

Collaborators: Laura Strandt, Maike Jungvo-

gel (100land). Realization on site: Johanna

Ballhaus, Elisabeth and Jessica Charbonneau,

Sandrine Perrault.

Note

1. Ranked among the leading garden festivals in

the world, the International Garden Festival

at Les Jardins de Métis/Reford Gardens in

Grand-Métis, Quebec presents temporary gardens

at the cutting edge of garden design, land-

scape, architecture, design, and environmen-

tal art. Launched in 2000, the International

Garden Festival has presented 110 gardens by

more than 200 designers from 15 countries and

has attracted more than 900,000 visitors.

www.refordgardens.com/english/festival/

edition.php