Beyond Nature_Rule of the People in the Garden

An 80-metre-long greenhouse in the Donaufeld in Vienna’s district Floridsdorf will provide the setting for a one-year political field experiment of the artist collective Club Real with the aim of putting democracy to the test. 450 species which populate the greenhouse are represented by humans in a parliament. This parliamentary representation is the basis for the rule of the people in the garden. In parliamentary sessions, the problems arising from cohabitation and the collective use of the areas in the greenhouse are discussed. What will the encounters of plants, plant lice, snails and slugs in the parliamentary context be like?

The first public session of the Garden Parliament will be held on 6 October 2018, the Day of the Garden Executive will take place on 26 October in the greenhouse. Audio tours will allow visitors to experience the growing installation every day until autumn 2019. Everyone who is interested in the project is invited to take an active part on site, as a member of the Parliament, gardener or supporter.

In April 2019, Club Real will move the Garden Democracy from the Donaufeld to the stage at the studio brut in Zieglergasse. In the Palace of Garden Justice, the audience will have to judge the organisms’ politics.

The artist collective Club Real has been realising participatory and site-specific projects for 17 years. Installations, one-on-one encounters, political role plays and participatory urban development projects invite people to play an active part in drafting alternative concepts of reality. In their last project in Vienna, Club Real built a fictitious Museum of Islamic-Austrian Relations.

For further information please go to www.clubrealblog.com

Opening and first session of the Garden Parliament on Saturday, 6 October 2018, 4:30 pm
Day of the Garden Executive, Friday, 26 October 2018, 11 am
Greenhouse at Nordmanngasse 60, 1210 Vienna