Garden Variety
Year
1994
Medium
3D computer generated model (Macintosh IIcx, Strata Vision, Photoshop)
Garden Variety
Exhibition:
Aki-Ex Gallery
5-4-44 Minami Aoyama7
Tokyo, Japan
Inspired by Spinoza's Garden, this Embassy represents the development of academic thought and its relation to the present conditions of Contemporary Art. That is to say the division of the disciplines and the consequent functional isolation of the "Fine Arts" within society. This rendition of the Embassy alludes to the ancient Greek gardens of Academius, where the great philosophers gathered. From this garden derived the words Academy and Academic. Also from these origins, the words diploma and diplomat. Envoys with credentials sent to other worlds representing someone other than themselves.
Today in a university Campus, a diploma is bestowed to those who complete their studies, thereby attaining a new Identity. Rendered from a three dimensional computer generated model, this Embassy exists only in its virtual form. The model includes a ceremonial gallery, three pivoting gateways separated from the gallery by a wall of stacked protocol books, and a field of growing posts in a grid pattern. At one end of the garden is an embassy compound with the protocol production apparatus and other common elements of the embassies such as the breathing machine, the undulating protocol conveyor, the man power platform and the ladders. Above the gallery are the banner frames, where flags and banners announce a stance.