In our urbanized and digitalized society, the garden becomes an imagined place of longing, a heavenly natural refuge and a private sanctuary. In everyday life, it shows itself to be a man-made construct that is designed based on ideals and fails due to realities. The garden dream turns out to be an ambivalent territory: slugs are chased away with slug pellets, only to reappear as a ceramic sculpture at the edge of the border. Even the action of gardening, sold as a meditative mindfulness exercise, quickly becomes overwhelming when the weeds run rampant.
The publication «Paradies und Plage» (literally, Paradise and Plague) reveals these absurd contradictions through various perspectives: staged photographs and an extensive glossary illuminate the idyll and the fiasco in the garden. As an encyclopaedia, it invites readers to reflect on the discrepancies between ideals and realities, from A as in «Akku-Unkrautentferner» (battery-powered weed remover) to Z as in «Zitronenfalter» (brimstone butterfly).
This extensive publication by Anja and Noëlle about the joys and frustrations in the garden achieves the perfect balance between affection and critical distance, offering a humorous approach to a subject which we have all encountered at some point. It combines a convincing series of images with a detailed glossary to examine a subject with a long history from a contemporary perspective. The book has been very carefully designed and is now being prepared for publication. – Excerpt from the supporting statement of the Subject Area Trends & Identity
«Our dissertation project documents the ambivalence and absurdities of a supposed place of longing and thus creates a new understanding of the garden as an everyday phenomenon.» – Anja Rötheli & Noëlle Schmid
«I would like to explore the boundaries of the everyday and create concepts that are both timeless and playful.» – Anja Rötheli
«I would like to continue reflecting socially relevant topics and questions by integrating them in my design process.» – Noëlle Schmid
