Buitengewoon
| Exhibition | The Dutch Garden (De Hollandse tuin), Leiden |
| Project | Artwork in allotment garden |
| Location | Allotment garden complex, ‘Het Zonneveld’ |
| Client | Center for Visual Arts (CBK), Leiden |
| Curator | Nicole Roepers |
| Year | 1994 |
Order reigns in the ‘Zonneveld’ allotment garden: gardens flanked by sleek hedges, plants standing in rows. Sometimes you see a garden with wild flowers, but that was an exception in 1994. In addition to plants, there are small buildings, such as homemade sheds, greenhouses and other -sometimes wonderful- constructions.
Hetty and Gerard made a part of their garden available for the art project. They don’t have a greenhouse, but this season they do.
The design is inspired by the diversity of buildings. A small wooden greenhouse has been placed upside down with its roof in the earth. There is a table in the greenhouse with children’s tableware. On top grow almost black violets, Viola cornuta ‘Molly Sanderson’, a striking violet, due to its deep purple colour that looks black. Through the glass roof you can see the bottom: black earth. Some gardeners at the complex perceived this construction as a new greenhouse model. The black violins did very well.
Foto’s: Marc de Haan/John Kroes