Eight flowerbeds for a new theater backdrop
The project was born from the need to reevaluate the garden, in consideration of its role in the Triennale museum complex: the garden hosts works of great value such as the Mysterious Baths, and an important collection of installations, which are an integral part of the cultural offer of the Triennale. To give greater prominence to the installations, and at the same time underline the space of the garden and its particular amphitheater shape, eight new flowerbeds have been inserted which create a background, like a scenic backdrop; in this way the works are enhanced, while at the same time giving a limit, a threshold, which visually separates the garden space from the surrounding park, beyond the gate. In this way, the garden’s exhibition role is underlined: not a secondary space but an integral part of the museum system. From the outside, the curtain will be able to attract attention towards the garden, without immediately revealing its contents.
The backstage is made up of eight flowerbeds, with a monospecific and very defined character, characterized by ‘architectural’ plants which, like ‘living’ installations, align themselves with the perimeter of the garden, insinuating themselves directly into the internal space to dialogue with the installations and the trees . The flowerbeds create exhibition areas, in which the works emerge, and are arranged according to different inclinations, so as to ‘open up’ towards the visitor, create different perspectives and underline the space with a theatrical character and create entertainment.
Perennial herbaceous plants and grasses have been planted in the eight flowerbeds: acanthus (Acanthus mollis, A. spinosus), bergenia (Bergenia ‘Eric Smith ‘), sedge (Carex pendula) and calamagrostis (Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’). To replace a dead tree, a specimen of Davidia involucrata or Handkerchief Tree was planted, a tree with limited growth and great ornamentation in spring, corresponding to the annual opening of the garden.
