My Private Garden (2005)

Title:
myprivategarden

Year:
2005

Venue:
Designmuseum Denmark
Trapholt

Concept, design and graphic concept:
Karen Kjaergaard

Graphic design:
brandFARM

Supported by:
Statens Kunstfond
Danish Crafts
+
myprivategarden was realized with the great contribution and collaboration of 13 Danish companies who
dedicated their power, know-how and fine craftsmanship:
LAMPAS
EVA DANMARK
SANISCAN
R. RANDERS
ROYAL COPENHAGEN
ERIK JØRGENSEN
TRIP TRAP
PINDSTRUP
KVADRAT
FRITZ HANSEN
PLUMROSE SKANDINAVIEN
PETERSEN TEGL
ZENIA HOUSE

From the Garden of Eden to our gardens …by/ Karen Kjaergaard

You could say it all began in a garden: ‘And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden…And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil’ (Genesis, Chapter 2, verse 8-9). All was beauty and calm until the snake offered the apple and caused the expulsion from Paradise, the exclusion from the Garden. Perhaps we have been searching for it ever since.
Gardening practices throughout the ages tell of our fascination for lush oases, of geometric, baroque or romantic gardens, weedy beds, trellises, pruning, grafting and decorating. They demonstrate our urge to sow and plant, to leave a trace of ourselves. They show how important a space the garden is for us.

Time in the garden
The garden is not just a place for contemplation and calm. Our general prosperity has led us to fill our gardens with inventory and accessories, and the garden has become a place where we can show our status and identity: show me your garden and I’ll tell you who you are… The back garden, the front garden, the ornamental garden, even the terrace and the balcony – are they tidy or chaotic? Do you have a compost heap or use Roundup? The garden is our social face – a source of admiration, envy, love… and hate.
But time has also brought out our need to create order and take root. We relieve our increasing sense of rootlessness by going to the garden centre, where we buy in to plant out. The ‘green therapy’ wave is upon us, for example in the form of healing gardens, where we seek peace, inspiration and new energy. The garden demands and takes something very precious: time. But, paradoxically enough, the time we spend in the garden gives us back our sense of time.

Memory
Everything is garden, from thistles and stinging nettles to ponds with goldfish and water lilies. This exhibition does not aim to show the ‘correct’ garden, or what kinds of flagstones to use. Rather, it is intended as a poetic presentation that springs from the memory of my childhood garden.
Karen Kjærgaard
1 May 2005