Courtyard Meadow

2009 - ongoing | media: landscape & performance | location: Vendée, France | scale: 1 hectare

Our Landscape Gestures started when we bought an abandoned piece of rural land in 2009. Inspired by the concept of Garden in Movement of Gilles Clement, ecological conservation practices and Landscape Art, we started a process of experimentation in designing landscapes with the ecological dynamics already present form of improvisation with these processes. Our aim is foster an increase of resilience and biodiversity whilst creating a cultural artefact that is perceived as beautiful.

Through these acts, the landscape is gradually shaped, it constantly evolves, following the reactions of the rest of the ecosystem. Almost nothing is planted, although we do seed some new species that we believe may enjoy this biotope, both native and exotic.

This economical technique combines aesthetic, with various ecosystem services such as biodiversity, carbon sequestration, water preservation. It can be seen as a way of gardening a landscape.

This approach establishes a new relationship to nature, one where our human nature and that of the other beings in the ecosystem are in dialogue. The plant and animal communities design as much as we do. Around the performance of the Landscape Rituals that shape the land, a community is growing.

Courtyard Meadow is one of our longest lasting area of landscape gestures; each year, a new design is developed, which is performed, generally mown, through its growth. The meadow can be seen as a nature reserve for the plant and animal species of traditional meadow ecosystems as well as a succession of ephemeral works of art.