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The Skip
Memorial Garden
Conceived as a mobile memorial to
front gardens lost to paving for cars, the aim was
to move the Skip Garden to streets where most of the
green gardens had been concreted over. The Skip Garden
was to provide a small green oasis in an otherwise
mainly barren landscape provoking awareness of what
had been lost, and interest in the idea of gardens
as pleasurable and important environmental features.
Due to council regulations, however, the skip garden
was eventually sited in the car park of Wanstead Leisure
Centre and High School, in north east London, for
2 weeks in September 2005 where it was enjoyed by
visitors to the leisure centre and school student
alike. It was then dismantled and the contents reused.
Front gardens can be seen as barriers
to protect from the street world, an expression of
the occupier’s creativity, or a place (unlike
the back garden) where it is acceptable, in reserved
British society, to chat to one’s neighbours
over the boundary wall or fence. They contribute to
the community, aesthetic and environmental value of
our streets.
There is a documentary DVD available.
Please contact the artist for more information. |
