EARTH PERFECT? Nature, Utopia, and the Garden
Annette Giesecke, Naomi Jacobs,
EARTH PERFECT Nature, Utopia, and the Garden" is a project in three phases spanning 2011-2014 and involving two essay collections and an international symposium. In the edited collection, Earth Perfect Nature, Utopia, and the Garden (Black Dog Publishing, 2012), questions such as: "What is the role of the garden in defining humanity’s ideal relationship with nature" and "How should we garden in the face of catastrophic ecological decline" were addressed through wide-ranging case studiesincluding ancient Roman gardens in Pompeii, Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, the gardens of Versailles, organic farming in New Englandby senior scholars in architecture, art history and classics to geography, horticulture, landscape architecture, law, literature, philosophy, urban planning, and the natural sciences. A four-day symposium showcasing the garden as an emblem of the ideal human relation with nature and designed for an academic audience, garden professionals, and a general public interested in the importance and meaning of gardens followed the publication of the first edited collection, and spawned a second edited collection, The Good Gardener (Forthcoming, Fall 2014, Black Dog Publishing).
EARTH PERFECT Nature, Utopia, and the Garden is a four-day symposium showcasing the garden as an emblem of the ideal human relation with nature. The symposium is designed for an academic audience, garden professionals, as well as a general public interested in the importance and meaning of gardens.Event Locations:o The University of Delawareo Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvaniao Winterthur Estate Gardens, Delawareo Chanticleer Garden, PennsylvaniaMt. Cuba Center, Delaware