The former monastery garden of the Belgian Pavilion, after being closed for decades, opens its doors to human visitors. Since early 2022, artist collective de Onkruidenier has been observing the garden’s microclimate, delving into its history and its accompanying reference to the monastic garden tradition. Learning to understand this history and symbolism of the garden may translate its layered meaning to the here and now and the climate challenges of our time.

Future Gardening is a long term project that explores speculative ecosystems through artistic methodologies and more relational systems of classification. How can we build alternative nature-culture narratives that lead to real transformations for better practices of interspecies care? Together we explore what a garden can be in times of climate heating and what gardening is as an intervention within practices of multispecies co creation.

The walls of the garden help create a sheltered microclimate in which you can observe unique interactions between plants, animals, microorganisms, and soils. You will find heat-loving plants that were blown in on foreign winds and found refuge in the warmth and protection the walls offer. Since the gate was closed for so long, there are corners of the garden that mistrust human interaction and other patches that need us to intervene. This makes the garden an interesting testing ground for learning about urban nature’s ability to cope with heat and climate change. And question our place in it… In the Shadow Garden we move as humans into the shadows of plants, organisms, soil, and earth systems. We delve into hidden knowledges that are brought to light as a result. How much do they need us? How can the garden be a place where people may begin to reshape their connection to their environment?