the gardenLAb experiment

Its funny that I got an e-mail about the gardenLAb experiment from Christina today. My friend, Sam, told me about this last week, and I was like, "Sam, are you sure its cool?" What could he know? He teaches elementary school kids in LA.

It turns out everyone was right. the gardenLAb experiment is a innovative approach for solutions to the demonstrative LA culture. Taking a wind tunnel and reappropriating the testing that is occurring here, the gardenlab allows "everyone in l.a. who cares about issues of ecology" to learn and partake in innovations.

As Fritz Haug said in an interview with greenmuseum.org, " it is very hard to live in l.a. and not be conscious of our relationship to 'natural' forces and elements...the ocean, mountains, vegetation, climate, rainfall, winds, temperature, humidity all rubbing up against human needs and occupation as seen in smog, traffic, sprawl, water demand, de-forestation...people living here are uniquely aware of what human need vs. natural forces looks like."

Indeed. Living in New England and New York City for the past few years, the transition to Southern California has been a shell shock. A car culture that builds and eats resources like its going out of style, LA and the surrounding areas make you painfully aware of America's need to consume. Shows like gardenlab's at Art Center Collge of Design in Pasadena allow for alternatives to be addressed in a practical matter.

And coming from Art Center, its no big suprise. The gardenlab exhibition is not the first gathering of design minds for potential solutions. In 2001, Fritz Haug started greenlab at Art Center as "an interdisciplinary design studio to create garden spaces for the campus". Guest critics ranged from Nils Norman to Susan Cloke, Chair of the Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles. Projects included "a garden for the college community" and a "student designed memorial tree park, furnished outdoor gathering space and performance stage".

The projects have developed to include performance, lectures, industrial design, architecture and urban intervention. These are not stale, graduate school projects, but ideas and revelations that have potential to grasp and audience beyond the art world and art studios. Yet, these things are all just ideas if the LA culture does not hear what is being said. In this vast city, making a dent means you need a voice that does not scream like every other billboard, nor can you have a whisper like leaves of trees by the freeway. Something in the middle is what you need, and maybe with a huge windtunnel and a variety of approaches they might just make a dent. An artists and an elementary school teacher have been touched... it might just be working.