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home|artworks index|public|performances||installations|photography|Refuge / A Wish Garden, 2002. Landesgartenshau, Grossenhaim, Germany.
next >Curated by Heike Strelow
Refuge, a Wish Garden, is an interactive public artwork, a garden installation for meditation, protection. This project was developed for Landesgartenshau, Grossenhaim, Germany.
Description
Inside a 30-40 foot circle of sand, eight benches are placed around a large magnificent tree in a circular fashion mirroring a feng shui pa kua. The benches are protected vantage points in which one can sit and view the wish garden, creating a transcendent space before one makes a wish action. The directions for feng shui are used to energize and each direction corresponds to a color, an element, and an aspect of life.
North – blue - water - career
Northeast – beige - small earth - education/knowledge
East – brown/green - strong wood - family and health
Southeast – green - small wood - wealth and prosperity
South – red - fire - recognition and fame
Southwest – yellow - strong earth - marriage/romance
West – metallic white gold - small metal - children
Northwest – metallic white gold - strong metal - mentors
The benches are made from wood, two small trunks holding up a log shaped plank. The design is based on benches seen in Algonquin Park in Canada. The surface of each bench would be painted the color of its direction. The tree has 20-30 foot lengths of hand-braided fabrics tied and wrapped around transforming it into a wishing tree. Baskets placed in between the benches are filled with cloth/fabrics to tie on the tree, rocks to pile up, sticks to draw on the sand and flowers to place anywhere.
