about the project
15 Knots is a juried-select temporary garden installation for the highly competitive Grand Metis International Garden Festival in northern Quebec. Taking cues from the flax fields of Eastern Quebec and the ephemeral movement of grasses blowing in the wind, the garden magnifies that ephemeral movement. Composed of three primary elements occupying a rectangular plot of grass (the canvas), Wind Walls (the agent of design), and Perimeter Path (the circulator). The Field occupies the center of the lot, planted with flax. While retaining a simple planar elegance, the field is enacted upon by the forces of wind. The natural forces of the wind are magnified and abstracted to ephemerally etch its patterns through the movement of the grass. The Wind Walls generate the force necessary to gracefully form the grass field into directional patterns. As visitors circulate around the perimeter the wind stream becomes momentarily interrupted by their presence, encouraging a direct relationship between the movement and proliferation of visitors and the vectorization of the grass field. 15 KNOTS is at once mechanically operated while remaining enticingly ephemeral, induced both by the mechanization of the wind walls. The wind patterns will alternate weekly, through the rotation of mobile fans located within the walls. The simple decomposed granite Perimeter Path enables a circumscribed experience of the garden.
