The International Garden Festival, presented at the Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens in the Gaspésie region of Québec, Canada is preparing its 21st edition and is issuing an international call for proposals to select designers who will create the new temporary gardens that will be presented from June 19, 2020. For its 21st edition, the Festival has chosen Métissages as its theme. Continuing the exploration of new ideas and new realms, the Festival is seeking to connect designers from various fields to favour a crossbreeding of practices and professions.
Métissages has historically had negative connotations. In the Canadian context, Métis were often looked down upon as an inappropriate crossing of hard borders of race and religion. In the inter-racial and inter-disciplinary culture of the 21st century, métissages can create unique forms of beauty. The interplay of practitioners and practices can confront difference and foster creativity. The physical and cultural cross-breeding enlivens and encourages the emergence of new practices and projects.
Cross-breeding in the context of contemporary gardens can be of practices (landscape architecture, garden design, architecture, visual arts, industrial design, cuisine and other fields of creative expression), plants (native or exotic) and materials (natural and manufactured). This mixity of approaches enriches and excites, creating new opportunities for exploration.
The interactive spaces chosen through this competition will enthrall and envelop visitors. The installations can incorporate activities and events. They will transform the visitor from viewer to active participant. The Festival encourages participants to form multidisciplinary teams. Designers will be asked to imagine their garden for exhibition for at least two summers and to propose strategies for the repurposing or recycling of the garden or its materials after the end of its exhibition.
This call for proposals is open to all landscape architects, architects, artists and multidisciplinary teams from Canada and abroad. The Festival encourages participants to form multidisciplinary teams. Applicants are limited to one proposal, either as individuals or as a team. Participants can be from a single city or country or cross international boundaries. Designers who have participated in one of the last three editions of the Festival are not eligible for this call for proposals. For complete information on this call for proposals, those interested should consult the web site: www.projects.internationalgardenfestival.ca.
Eligibility of candidates
This call for proposals is open to all landscape architects, architects, artists and multidisciplinary teams from Canada and abroad. The Festival encourages participants to form multidisciplinary teams. Applicants are limited to one proposal, either as individuals or as a team. Participants can be from a single city or country or cross international boundaries. Designers who have participated in one of the last three editions of the Festival are not eligible for this call for proposals.
Deadline to Submit Proposals
The deadline to submit proposals electronically is MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2019 at 5 pm EST.
Selection Process
The gardens will be selected by a jury on the basis of:
- the creative response to the brief for the 2020 edition, Métissages;
- the originality, coherence and clarity of the concept and the creative approach;
- the contribution of the proposed approach to the art of the garden and its renewal;
- the positioning or critical basis of the proposal with regard to the practice of garden design.
International Garden Festival: Forum for Innovation and Laboratory for Experimentation
The International Garden Festival (www.internationalgardenfestival.com) is recognized as one of the most important events of its kind in North America and one of the leading annual garden festivals in the world. Since 2000, over 1 million visitors have discovered the more than 190 contemporary gardens created by designers from 15 countries. The Festival is a unique forum for innovation and experimentation and an exceptional showcase and launching pad for participating designers from a host of disciplines. It provides an annual rendez-vous for admirers of contemporary gardens and design as well as offering a unique space for those involved in the renewal of this art form. This artistic and tourism event also gives visitors a chance to discover inspiring spaces bringing together the visual arts, architecture, design, landscape and the environment.
The Festival encourages participating designers to explore all facets of the garden, from the physical setting (site and context) to creating a range of sensory, emotional and intellectual experiences for the visitor. The Festival sees the garden as a space for creative interaction, while not negating its botanical and horticultural dimensions. The Festival imagines the garden as a multi-sensorial space and encourages designers to consider the visitor’s experience in the design of the garden, provoking interaction, participation, exchange and reflection.
The Festival is an opportunity to compare and contrast approaches and engage in a critical examination of the theory and practice of the art of gardens, offering a host of points of view on this contemporary art form to a broad and diversified audience. The goal of the event is to stimulate new creation by presenting temporary projects that question the very idea of the garden in light of its history and its place in today’s society while also allowing visitors to enjoy new sensory experiences.
The Festival Site
Located in Grand-Métis, in the Gaspésie region of Québec, Canada, the International Garden Festival is held on a site adjacent to the Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens, the historic gardens created by Elsie Reford from 1926 to 1958, a national historic site.
The Festival site is delimited on the north by the St. Lawrence River, on the west by a mature forest of deciduous trees (trembling aspen) and on the east by a field that opens onto a forest of conifers. The site is articulated around two perpendicular axes. The north-south axis is defined by a geometric grid of identical rectangular spaces that are 10 m x 20 m. These sunny and open spaces possess one entry/exit from the West and/or the East. They are separated from each other by a filter of trees (birch, ash, maple and linden) underplanted with ground covers or inert materials.
The west-east axis consists of a series of garden rooms that are variable in size and of irregular configurations (from 150 m2 to 250 m2). Surrounded by mature confers (mostly white spruce) and poplars, these garden rooms are shadier than those on the grid. They mostly have a single entrance/exit from the access road but offer filtered views to the St. Lawrence. The natural soil is clay and designs and designers should take into consideration that the water table is about 1.5 meter below the surface. Excavation is possible, but extensive excavation should be avoided. All of the sites have adequate soil and subsurface drains. All sites have access to water and electricity. Wi-Fi access is possible. Electronics and moving parts, if desired, must be suitable for outdoor applications.
The summer climate in Grand-Métis is temperate, with temperatures varying from 15°C to 30°C from June to September. Most plants flourish in this climate (hardiness zone of 4b). The hardiness zone map (www.planthardiness.gc.ca) outlines the different zones in Canada where various types of trees, shrubs and flowers will most likely survive based on the average climatic conditions of each area. Most annual plants and several varieties of exotics can be used for the summer months. We produce most of the plants in our greenhouses beginning in March. Planting is done in June. Designers should thus expect to use mature plants or plants with a rapid growth rate if they wish to assure bloom during the time the temporary garden is exhibited.
Project Oversight and Construction
The construction of the temporary gardens is executed in large part by the staff of the Festival. The technical coordinator and foreman oversee the construction and planting of each garden by a team of workers, students and volunteers. The construction of the gardens will begin in May 2020 and must be completed by June 19. The Festival and its crew assure the maintenance of the garden after the opening for the duration of the event.
Designers are expected to be on site to assist in the construction of their garden during the week leading up to the opening of the Festival (June 14 to June 19, 2020). Designers are housed in summer houses in nearby Métis-sur-Mer at the Festival’s expense during that week. Participants will be expected to work physically during the week dedicated to completing their gardens. Designers chosen to participate in the Festival agree to work to the schedule established by the Festival.
Honoraria and Budget
The budget for the creation and construction of each garden is $25,000 (CAN). This budget is divided in the following fashion:
- $5,000 for the designers’ honorarium, which is paid to the designers in two instalments;
- up to $15,000 for the purchase of materials necessary for the realization of the project (including engineering or other fees if required). This budget is managed jointly by the Festival and the designer;
- a team of Festival staff build each garden. The budget for labour is $5,000. This sum is managed by the Festival.
The Festival assumes for each garden, upon presentation of supporting invoices, the travel expenses up to:
- $ 1,000 (CAN) for Quebec designers;
- $ 2,000 (CAN) for designers from other Canadian provinces;
- $ 3,000 (CAN) for designers coming from abroad.
For more information
Media contact
v2com newswire
Pénélope Fortin
Press relations
+1 514 965 6182
Credits:
Photos by Jean-Christophe Lemay, Martin Bond
Courtesy of v2com newswire
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