For the 600th anniversary of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), a wandering garden will be installed in the Arenberg Castle Park in Leuven. Conceived as a contemporary folly, it is a new, immersive installation in the park. The wandering garden takes its inspirations from two distinct typologies. On the one hand, this garden folly finds its predecessors in formal historical gardens. As a confined place in the park, it accommodates within its sculptural form a scientific-botanical collection. The wandering garden is conceived as a set of undulating walls, slowly becoming overgrown by a wide variety of climbing plants, a quiet place visitors can stroll through. 

On the other hand, the wandering garden also finds typological inspiration in mythological mazes. The work can be seen as a continuation of the Labyrinth in C-Mine. The maze of greenery encourages its visitors to wander, but also provides them with clues. The walls are slanted and touch each other in different places, closing the space. In other spots, the walls fold away from each other, opening up the space. The result is a varying rhythm of different spaces, accentuated with different types of climbing plants. As in C-Mine, the idea of a uniform labyrinth with homogenous corridors is transformed into a spatial experience. In this way, the maze plays different roles: that of a playful folly, but also that of a scientific botanical collection. 

COMISSION
KU Leuven

REALIZATION DATE
2024-2025

LOCATION
Arenberg Castle Parc, Leuven (BE)

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