Ghortos
Own collection, 2016

Could the enclosed garden manifests itself as fundamentally autonomous sculpture that one could enter? A thought-provoking shape embracing a world of its own? Could such an object offer city dwellers a public typology in-between the private garden and the urban park? A poetic and intimate public space in its own right?

In the same way that Sol Le Witt's wall paintings need a wall, a garden needs an existing piece of land to come into existence. Yet, Sol Le Witt has been making 'models' of his wall paintings. These were works on paper that could be bought to then be realized on an adequate wall. This means that the autonomy of the painting was preserved as it was made without preceding awareness of its final context. The project Ghortos comprises a series of models of enclosed gardens that can be acquired by interested parties to be realized on appropriate grounds, whether in the public space, in a sculpture park, or in a collector's garden.

The shapes of the gardens are entirely self-referential. The form of Ghortos (Indo-European meaning The Enclosed) is issued from my collection of found forms. Whether accidental, unconsciously drawn or simply observed, these are forms that might easily have passed unnoticed and that I have been collecting and documenting over time.