Grow Op: Exploring Landscape and Place at the Gladstone Hotel

Have you ever thought of wearing a landscape? Well artist Eileen Finn has. She was one of the participants in Grow Op: Exploring Landscape and Place at the Gladstone Hotel which opened on Thursday April 24, 2014 curated by Victoria Taylor, a licensed landscape architect.

This year’s alternative urban design event tells stories about “water, memory, natural process, public space, everyday materiality, urban experiences, bees, mobility and rural food economies.” In addition to Finn’s piece “Field Dress” which asks the question what does it feel like to be a shrub in the city, “Windfall” by Rebecca Houston is an interactive sculpture that reanimates fallen tree branches. “Playwalk” is a practice in exploring the city through play. The Society of Homo Ludens experiment gives permission for adults to play in the landscape: “Playmission” which can be shared via twitter #playwalk. “Wind Tunnel” was a collaboration by three artists to explore the intangible qualities of a space. Karen Abel and Jessica Marion Barr organized an installation of jars of snow-melt gathered by participants across Canada. The order and symmetry of a French garden are highlighted in “Jardin ARTificial” where patio furniture is adorned in Astroturf!