To answer your questions... Studio Piuarch for the Kinetic Garden, Milan.

This spring, it is time for color at the Garden Among the Courtyards, the permanent vegetable garden created last year by Studio Piuarch on the roof of the building where it operates in Milan. Based on an innovative modular system made of pallets, the 300 square-meter garden is a space for production and relaxation, with positive impacts on energy consumption and urban environment.

Here, opened during the frantic Design Week 2016, the installation Kinetic Garden celebrates the Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (b. 1923) with red and green salad and violet and yellow pansies, orderly aligned in formal beds. 

Colour wheel, J.W. Goethe

The rigorous geometric layout and the restricted variety of plants emphasize color. This is simple and clean; there is no progression or mixing, but the same intensity of vivid yellow and violet, opposite colors in the color circle, such as red and green.

Theories and debates have accompanied the use of complementary colors in gardens, from nineteenth century bedding system to modernist experiments, but, in the Kinetic Garden, color has become structural element and active experience. Following a path explored by Carlos Cruz-Diez, the perception of its silent energy changes incessantly through motion, with a step in a different direction, a ray of sun, a gentle breeze.

I asked Studio Piuarch further information about this project and they promptly and kindly answered me.  

TravelinaGarden: After one year, what aspects of the project 'Gardens Among the Courtyards' were you most satisfied with and what were the difficulties?

Studio Piuarch: We are certainly very pleased with the great feedback and interest shown by the public that seems increasingly responsive to the issue of urban renewal.
We had positive feedbacks by the inhabitants of the buildings that overlook the vegetable garden, by the district and, in general, by many people in Milan.
The possibility to create a green space in the heart of Milan has created a kind of research laboratory for students and professionals that operate with interest in the field of green/ sustainability/ urban regeneration. 

Another positive point is the opportunity and satisfaction of eating the products we grow.
There were not great difficulties. The building system is simple and replicable, but, of course, like all vegetable gardens and gardens, it needs maintenance and care on almost a daily basis. Sometimes, this does not fit perfectly with the timing of an architectural firm, so Cornelius Gavril, the landscape architect who implemented the project with Piuarch, also helps us.

TravelinaGarden: Has the project been replicated in Italy or abroad?

Studio Piuarch: Unfortunately not. We have had several inquiries from people interested, but nothing has been implemented yet. We hope the simplicity of the system will lead to an almost spontaneous spread.

TravelinaGarden: The theme of the Kinetic Garden is colour and its perception in movement.  Would you please add some information about the choice of colours to better appreciate the meaning of the installation and the work of the Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez?

Studio Piuarch:  We have chosen colours that are easily found in nature: green and red salad and purple and yellow pansies, repeated alternately. Their repeated sequence creates a motion effect that recalls the work of Cruz-Diez. The regular arrangement and the colour changes play with the visual perception of those who walk in the garden.
The triangular tables, black and white (deliberately non-colors), further punctuate the space. Their alternate arrangement allows to read the predominance of one color over the other in the two sides of the vegetable garden (actually the number of wooden planks equals).

TravelinaGarden: The visual impact of the installation will gradually decline as the flowers wither. Pansies, however, will not be extirpated but will complete their cycle until the maturation of seeds. Why this choice? How the garden will evolve in the coming months?

Studio Piuarch: Pansies will complete their natural life cycle, and, in the meantime, seeds of medicinal herbs and flowers have been planted to resume the local tradition and rediscover the medical and therapeutic properties of essences used for centuries in the old pharmacies (the Botanical Garden of Brera was a source of medicinal herbs). Besides, the great variety of these flowers enriches the biodiversity of the area. In the next months, the vegetable garden will be constantly evolving following the natural rhythm of the seasons.

Induction Chromatique à Double Fréquence Maggy, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Paris, 2011. 
Cruz-Diez Foundation.

TravelinaGarden: Dopo un anno, quali aspetti del progetto Orto fra i cortili vi hanno maggiormente soddisfatto e quali sono state le difficoltà?
Studio Piuarch: Ci fa sicuramente molto piacere il grande riscontro e interesse mostrato dal pubblico che sembra sempre più sensibile al tema della riqualificazione urbana
Abbiamo avuto riscontri positivi dagli abitanti dei palazzi che affacciano sull'orto, dal quartiere e da tante persone di Milano in generale. La possibilità di creare uno spazio verde nel cuore di Milano ha generato una sorta di laboratorio di ricerca per studenti e prefessionisti che operano con attenzione nel settore green/sostenibilità/riqualificazione urbana. Un altro punto positivo è stata la possibilità e la soddisfazione di mangiare prodotti che coltiviamo direttamente. Grandi difficoltà non si sono rivelate, il sistema costruttivo è semplice e replicabile, ovviamente come tutti gli orti e i giardini c'è bisogno di una manutenzione e cura quasi giornaliera che a volte non si incastra in modo perfetto con le tempistiche di uno studio d'architettura, per questo ci aiuta anche Cornelius Gavril, il paesaggista che con piuarch ha realizzato il progetto.
TravelinaGarden:  Avete avuto modo di replicare questo progetto in Italia o all'estero?
Studio Piuarch: Purtroppo non ancora, abbiamo avuto diverse richieste di informazioni da parte di persone interessate ma non si è ancora concretizzato nulla. Speriamo che la semplicità del sistema porti ad una diffusione quasi spontanea.
TravelinaGarden:Tema dell'Orto Cinetico è il colore e la sua percezione nel movimento, enfatizzata dall'uso di forme geometriche regolari e dalla ridotta varietà di piante.  Potete aggiungere qualche informazione sulla scelta dei colori per poter meglio apprezzare il significato dell'installazione e l'opera dell'artista venezuelano Carlos Cruz-Diez?
Studio Piuarch: Sono stati scelti dei colori facilmente trovabili in natura, il verde e il rosso delle insalate e il viola e giallo delle viole, che si alternano in modo ripetuto.
La loro sequenza ripetuta ha permesso di creare un effetto di movimento che richiama l'opera di Cruz-Diez. La disposizione regolare e gli scarti di colore giocano con la percezione visiva di chi percorre lo spazio dell'orto. Le tavole triangolari, bianche e nere (volutamente non-colori), ritmano ulteriormente lo spazio. La loro disposizione alternata consente di leggere la predominanza di un colore sull'altro nei due lati dell'orto (in realtà il numero di tavole di legno è uguale)
TravelinaGarden: L'impatto visivo dell'installazione diminuirà a man a mano che i fiori appassiranno. Le viole del pensiero però non saranno estirpate ma completeranno il loro ciclo di vita fino alla maturazione dei semi. Come mai questa scelta? Come evolverà il giardino nei prossimi mesi?
Studio Piuarch: Le viole completeranno il loro ciclo naturale di vita, nel frattempo sono stati piantati semi di erbe/fiori medicinali, che riprendono la tradizione locale con l'intento di riscoprire le proprietà medicali e terapeutiche di essenze usate per secoli nelle officine farmaceutiche (l'orto botanico di Brera era fonte di erbe medicinali). La grande varietà di questi fiori va inoltre ad arricchire la biodiversità della zona, nei prossimi mesi l'orto sarà in continua evoluzione, seguendo il ritmo naturale delle stagioni.

Translation TravelinaGarden.

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Milan, April 2016, except for:
Colour wheel, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, 1810. Watercolour. Goethemuseum.


Induction Chromatique à Double Fréquence Maggy, Carlos Cruz-Diez, 100x300 cm, Paris 2011. Cruz-Diez Foundation.

http://www.hku.hk/

Links:
The Kinetic Garden, Studio Piuarch, Milan.
https://www.piuarch.it/

Cruz-Diez Foundation, Paris.
http://www.cruz-diezfoundation.org/en/home.html

Vetri Paralleli, An Exhibition in Venice.

Glass has many shapes. 
The exhibition Vetri Paralleli in Venice combines those of goblets, cups and vases with those of seabirds: Francesca Saccani's photos of the Venetian glasses at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen with Tróndur Patursson's glass sculptures.

The glasses arranged with symmetrical obsession in a small chamber at Rosenborg Castle date back to 1709, when Frederik IV, King of Denmark and Norway, received a gift of hundreds of pieces of glass from the Venetian Doge. To display them, Gottfried Fuchs, chief fire officer and architect, created this glass cabinet with silk lined walls, painted ceiling and shelves of decreasing size edged with elaborated decorations. Their golden glitter, the atmosphere of the chamber, its opulence and fragility were captured by Francesca Saccani, Italian photographer and illustrator. The black backing of her photos, made precious by scattered fragments of gold leaf, intensifies details and decorative techniques of these glasses, whose colours and  transparencies find a

different dimension in the powerful seabirds, cut in thick sheets of glass.

In 1987, Tróndur Patursson, well known Danish painter and sculptor, started working with glass discovering its expressive potential. His stained glass birds are inspired by nature, a fundamental element in his art, a deep relationship forged in the long sea voyages and in the daily life in his native Faroe Islands, where he still lives. 
His seabirds fly. Their shapes speak of speed, their colours speak of sea and sky, of rugged cliffs and secret coves. And when air and light cross their wings those landscapes vanish giving way to pure emotions.


Glass has many shapes and many uses. 

Photos:
TravelinaGarden, Venice, April 2016.
'The Venetian glass collection' engraving from

The Venetian glass collection.

The Chronological museum of the danish kings at Rosenberg Castle; a short description, by P. Brock, The Publishing Company of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, 1892.
access: archive org


Exhibition:
Vetri Paralleli, 
Glass Cabinet Francesca Saccani
Uccelli/Birds Tróndur Patursson
09.04 - 29.04.2016
ARTLIFE for the World, Calle della Racchetta 3782/B Cannaregio, Venezia
http://www.artlifefortheworld.it

Links:
Francesca Saccani
http://francescasaccani.com/

Tróndur Patursson
http://www.trondurpatursson.dk/

The Art of Chabana: April.

Material: Magnolia soulangeana.
Container: Regadora, white ceramic watering can, Francisco Lora Buzon, Menorca.

The first step to create a flower arrangement for the Japanese tea ceremony is to choose the flowers. Chabana, or tea flowers, have to be seasonal flowers, not too gaudy or showy, not too scented or numerous. Chabana evokes spontaneous nature in the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of the chashitu, the room where the cha, the frothy tea made of powdered green leaves, is prepared and drunk. Humble fresh flowers are arranged with simplicity and elegance, favouring the natural inclination of the branch, choosing promising buds instead of open flowers, using a few varieties and always in odd number, combining their colour, shape and size with the vase, preferably without decorations.

Not all flowers are suitable for Chabana. In the book The Art of Chabana strengths and weaknesses of flowers, divided according to seasons and flowering months, are analyzed. For the month of April, for example, Prunus ascendens is considered too common, the petals of Prunus Sargentii, 'soft pink and quite large', are suggested just for a 'casual' meeting, Spirea cantoniensis in full bloom is 'too loud' and branches of apple blossoms are preferred in bud, with 'drooping down' and 'sparse' flowers.

For April, I have chosen a branch of magnolia with three opening flowers and three sprigs. The cream colour of the flowers harmonises with the room and the simple bamboo table where I put the Chabana, while their blush reminds me of the warmer spring sun. I have not used a traditional board under the vase, a Menorcan watering can classified as gyo, glazed pottery. The branch is short, its development is in width more than height, but I like the proportions of the composition and I enjoyed its freshness and brightness sipping my cha.

Photos:
TravelinaGarden

Further reading:
Henry Mittwer, The Art of Chabana: Flowers for the Tea Ceremony, Charles E. Tuttle Company Inc., Tokyo, 1974.