Favoring the Living over Form
Beyond the pursuit of progress solely as a belief in an ever-increasing technological control over the world, to compensate for global disruption, new relationships between man and nature and the living continue to develop. The gardener-landscaper Gilles Clément reveals how his activity connects him to all the living beings which interact to maintain the balance of an environment. From this he has developed the concept of the “garden in movement,” a method of gardening that favors the living over form. Rather than a completely hands off approach, it is a collection of interventions to accompany nature rather than oppose it. On an urban scale, his approach as a landscaper valorizes, even stages the “Third (estate) landscape”— abandoned spaces and interstices that form numerous reserves for biodiversity that are essential for human survival—in a symbolic and pedagogical way. Progress could thus be defined not by the illusion of mastery, but by a deeper understanding of the complexity of the living of which we are a part. Conversation between Philippe Chiambaretta and Gilles Clément
