PEU IMPORTE AUX BUTINEURS (IT DOESN'T MATTER TO THE FORAGERS)

by Quentin Aubry & Zeger Dalenberg (The Netherlands)

The idea of perspective refers to the way we see things, with our eyes but also by virtue of our critical mind, our opinion. It was by playing with these two meanings of the word that this design was born.

At the site's extremities, at two precise points, the garden invites the visitor to observe it and to share their point of view, their perspective on things. Through an anamorphistic game, made possible by the presence of masks, in the form of foragers' walls, each visitor obtains a perspective of the garden and its colours that is completely opposite to that of the other: on one side a meadow with yellow, warm colours, on the other purple and violet flowers in pastel shades. 

Using a megaphone, the two visitors can confront, compare and debate their opinions and views of the garden. 

Finally, when they are ready to put their visions into perspective, they can walk to the centre of the garden and find out that things were neither totally white nor totally black, or in this case neither totally yellow nor totally purple. 

By playing with these two ideas of perspective, this garden hopes to shed light on human behaviour and to criticise it: do we not spend too much time debating our opinions and not enough time acting on them? This is where the concept gets its title from, because in the end, yellow or purple, it doesn't matter to the foragers.

The members of this studio base their work and their designs on a consistently eco-responsible approach: bio-sourced materials, permaculture, biodiverse design for wildlife. The "Peu importe aux butineurs" garden is no exception to the rule. Its very concept takes a critical look at human inaction in protecting biodiversity, especially pollinator species: humans are too busy debating unimportant issues and too slow to take action.

For example, the garden is made from bio-sourced materials: French wood & natural filler harvested in the area for the forager walls, wood for the Japanese steps, earth or bio-concrete (OMLAB) for the megaphones, local plants from an eco-conscious nursery specially chosen for pollinators, natural dyes based on beetroot and turmeric... 

Although based in the Netherlands, the construction team is committed to travelling only by train or carpooling. Also, in view of the duration of the event, the creators undertake to give the various elements to the municipality of Menton or to the local inhabitants/associations, particularly the foraging walls and the planters.

• Omlab  
• Triflor