About The Hanging Gardens
June 24, 2008
Underbelly Public Arts Lab + Festival
CarriageWorks Arts Centre
245 Wilson Street, Eveleigh, NSW
July 3 -13, 2008
The Hanging Gardens & Other Tales was a neighbourhood-specific installation at CarriageWorks Arts Centre (in Sydney’s Redfern) made up of pot plants on loan from local residents. The project was a collaboration between Makeshift and Nobody and took place as part of the Underbelly Public Arts Lab + Festival, July 3 – 13, 2008. It involved collecting plants and personal stories from participating ‘neighbours’ over a period of 2 weeks, and slowly hanging both stories and plants from the remnant structural components of this historic converted railyard.
As each plant was delivered to our reception desk, its owner filled in a registration form with care instructions, plant & owner details etc. At some point this form was filed, and an individual ink drawing of the plant was made. The plant was then added to the installation on tiered or hanging platforms, where it was looked after until the close of the festival. Eventually, its home location was also marked on a 1989 map of the area nestled within the installation.
All the stories we collected (and accompanying owner-plant portraits) will eventually be published on this blog. Further down the track, we plan to make a little print publication featuring the drawings and hand-written stories.
***A big thank you to all participants who lent us their special potted friends!***
Please get in touch if you are interested in future possibilities for The Hanging Gardens, or if you have any questions: hanginggardens@makeshift.com.au
Visit Underbelly for more info on the festival
