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Naomi Lord, August 2024
Why culture, critical thinking and creative action really matter in times of climate change, stark poverty and inequality, suppression of human rights and social justice, political polarisation and populism, and geopolitical tensions and conflicts.
Deep cultural coding forms our sense of identity. Unless we uproot, examine and reform the stories we tell ourselves they will remain as alibis for our action and inaction, preserving the modes that have led us to crisis.
Awareness Shapes Our Perception of Chance & Change
Coincidence or intuition?
Intuition, or prepared mindset and informed openness?
I accidentally wandered into Rebel Garden this summer—in that way the universe often seems to deliver exactly what you’re searching for—an exhibition spread across three of Musea Brugge's iconic institutions: the Groeningemuseum, the Gruuthusemuseum, and the Museum Sint-Janshospitaal. This exhibit blends old and contemporary art to, as the guide puts it, narrate "the complex and often turbulent relationship between man and nature," while addressing the urgent issue of the climate crisis.
The central theme of the tripartite exhibition is the garden as symbolic of nurture, creation and resistance.
The stories we tell ourselves:
Do we visit museums to consolidate our opinions or to challenge and change them?
Do we expect to engage in popularist and traditionalist presentations of human endeavour?
Do we anticipate actively engaging in museums' public narratives as a participant?
Are museums' methods of sharing information and inviting dialogue accessible and inspirational for all?
Museums and galleries play a unique role in values education by building community, leveraging public trust, and inspiring action. They engage audiences through emotional storytelling, emphasise justice and equity, and can offer clear steps in, for example, addressing climate change. By focusing on inclusivity and integrating climate and human justice into their messaging, museums can make these issues accessible and actionable.
Make art-museums great again: Museums and galleries are in a strong position to counter popularism, which often simplifies complex issues, promotes divisive politics, or challenges democratic process. To do this effectively, they need to be able to engage with both popular and deep cultural learning. Additionally, they can help direct attention towards the shortcomings of traditional political systems and encourage a demand for greater responsiveness and accountability from those in power. It's also crucial that museums and galleries reflect on their own practices and make improvements, ensuring they remain responsive and relevant as centers of cultural influence.
A wall for shared climate comments in the attic of Museum Sint-Janshospitaal.
Stories that Create a Strong Sense of Unmoveable Truth:
As a UNESCO World Heritage site, Bruges showcases formative approaches to built environments, art, and human imagination. The city’s remarkable ecclesiastical heritage is a testament to more than just its religious past. The fabric of Bruges encodes stories about the evolution of education, economy, society, and culture.
Bruges is an outstanding example of a medieval settlement, preserving its historic fabric and original Gothic constructions. As a commercial and cultural hub, it developed global cultural links and became closely associated with the school of Flemish Primitive painting. Known as a commercial metropolis in medieval times, Bruges reflects significant influences in art and architecture, particularly in brick Gothic style. In the 15th century, it was a centre for artists like Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling, whose works influenced European painting and remain part of the city's exceptional collections today.
The Last Judgment is a triptych by the Early Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch, created after 1482.
Often referred to as our "new churches," museums are now seen as places that can address psychological needs just as churches once addressed theological ones. In Bruges as elsewhere, Alain de Botton suggests, "The challenge is to rewrite the agendas for our art museums."
Rebel Garden seems to argue that museums should both embrace the role of serving our inner needs and reconsider it.
How can museums balance human history with environmental awareness?
Should the human story be the central story in our places of learning?
Museums and their contents, activities, and capital are prime examples of an anthropocentric perspective on the world we live in, as they focus on human history, culture, and achievements. By emphasising human-centred narratives, museums reflect a human-focused approach that often prioritises human experiences and needs. This aligns with concepts like humanism, which places human beings at the forefront, and human exceptionalism, which sees humans as superior to other forms of life.
Museums often present collections and exhibitions that are anthropogenic, stemming from human activity and ingenuity, and can even anthropomorphise non-human elements to make them relatable to visitors. However, using museum activities to promote radical climate action challenges the human-centric nature of their organisation. It begins a shift of focus away from purely human narratives towards a more inclusive, ecological perspective that acknowledges the impact of human actions on the broader environment and encourages a more holistic approach to our planet’s future.
The Curator as Gardener
‘The gardener digs in another time, without past or future, beginning or end.’
Derek Jarman, 1989
Left: 'Albero di 7 metri (Tree of 7 Meters)' by Giuseppe Penone. This sculpture is part of Penone’s series that explores the relationship between humans and nature, often highlighting the connection between the human form and the natural world through the use of casts of hands and tree trunks
Musea Brugge’s collection underscores how art has consistently explored human experience in relation to the world and spirituality. Masterpieces by key figures of early Low Countries painting from the 15th and early 16th centuries, including Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling, Hugo van der Goes, Gerard David, and Hieronymus Bosch are celebrated for their depictions of Christian iconography, biblical narratives, and scenes of everyday life with intricate attention to detail.
Common themes include rich symbolism, detailed settings, and a focus on human expressions to capture the complexities of the human condition, offering insights into the spiritual devotion, social dynamics, and daily life of the time.
Women are often depicted as central figures like the Virgin Mary or biblical heroines, emphasising purity and maternal qualities, typically shown in domestic or elite settings, engaged in everyday activities.
Men are portrayed in both religious and secular roles, reflecting their social, religious, and economic positions in 15th and early 16th-century Europe. They appear as saints, apostles, merchants, scholars, and craftsmen, highlighting virtues like wisdom and devotion and their influence on society and culture.
'The Herbarium of Dystopia' by Maarten Van den Eynde and Anuna De Wever. This artwork is part of the Rebel Garden exhibition at Musea Brugge, which blends natural elements with traditional museum environments to provoke thought about ecological issues and humanity's impact on the planet. The installation uses plants and natural growth within the museum space to create a dialogue between art, nature, and environmental consciousness.
Depictions of the global majority, animals, and nature in 15th and early 16th-century European art are limited and reflect the cultural context of the time. Rare portrayals of the global majority are often idealised to emphasise Christian universality. Animals are commonly shown in religious symbolism and daily life roles, while nature represents God's creation and the earthly setting for human activities, also linking to early scientific discoveries.
Art from this period often highlights European achievements, creating a narrow narrative that can overlook global contributions. To broaden the scope, museums can provide counterpoints to their core collections by including artworks and artifacts from non-European cultures, presenting contemporary works that challenge traditional views, or showcasing stories of colonialism and its impact on global societies. This approach helps to include diverse perspectives, such as gendered viewpoints, different socioeconomic backgrounds, and the perspective of nature, encouraging a more inclusive and comprehensive view of human history.
Cultivated Minds: Limited Action
If the central theme of Rebel Garden is the garden as a symbol of nurturing, creation, and resistance, then the curator, like a gardener, has a range of possible approaches..
tending (maintaining and preserving the existing collection)
moderate renovation (updating the presentation of the collection, reimagining the layout of galleries, and possibly adding new pieces that complement the existing works)
major overhaul (reevaluating the entire collection, removing outdated or less relevant pieces, and fundamentally redesigning the space to reflect a new vision or narrative; bring in new works or create thematic exhibitions to reshape the museum's story and attract fresh interest)
introducing new varieties (introducing new types of exhibits, new media, interactive elements, or cultural artifacts can appeal to a broader audience, provide new perspectives, and enrich the visitor experience)
Starting with a received garden limits changes due to existing plants, layout, and conditions. Similarly, curating an established museum collection involves working within the constraints of the current pieces and displays while trying to introduce new perspectives. This can insulate conceptualisation, as the garden or museum walls can act like a closed ecology, creating an insular paradigm that resists new ideas and interpretations.
The diverse array of symbolic gardens, from the mythical Garden of Eden to the meticulous Zen gardens of Ryōan-ji and the opulent Versailles Gardens, illustrates how we cultivate gardens not just in the physical world but also in our minds. Each of these gardens represents a closed idea bound to human narratives—paradise, power, tranquility, or eternal love—reflecting the values, beliefs, and aspirations of different cultures. By tending to these gardens of the mind, we create contained worlds that mirror our understanding of cultivated nature and nature harnessed for human use.
Beyond the Anthropogenic
Implicit in Rebel Garden is nature counteracting:
the anthropogenic (originating in human activity, most salient here in the context of environmental impacts caused by humans),
ego-centric (placing oneself at the centre of one's own experience and worldview, often extending to how humans view themselves in relation to nature), homocentric (centred around human beings, often used in moral philosophy to describe ethical systems that prioritise human needs)
and human exceptionalism (the belief that humans are fundamentally different from and superior to other animals or aspects of the natural world) at a time of crisis.
A Big Question
We may face a Catch-22 (a paradoxical situation where the solution to a problem is also the cause of the problem) when human activity needs to correct its own ego-centric (self-centered) focus on human actions.
How can a museum focused on the Anthropocene (the current geological age viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment) engage people in a true story of human activity within the context of the biosphere (the global ecosystem composed of all living beings and their relationships with the environment)?
To do this, the museum would need to gradually change its tools, language, and methods to shift the focus from human-centered narratives to those that emphasise the broader biosphere.
Drawing on Jarman’s idea of the gardener as a nurturer "without past or future," gardening is a cyclical process that transcends linear time, focusing on the continuous cycles of growth, decay, and renewal. The gardener aligns with natural rhythms, moving beyond conventional concepts of time and progress.
Similarly, if the curator is a gardener and the museum is a garden, the curator's role is to move beyond narrow human concerns, tending to the ongoing cycles of history and culture. The curator should shift focus from anthropocentric narratives to highlight the interconnectedness of all life and the rhythms of the biosphere.
Who are the Gardeners? Humans as Disruption, Biosphere as Garden, Nature as Gardener.
I see the garden as a successful compromise between man and nature which both parties can agree on.
Peter Wohlleben 2012
The installation in the image is titled 'Not Yet' and was created by Per Kristian Nygård for the Rebel Garden exhibition at Musea Brugge. The artwork features a large mound of grass and vegetation sculpted to appear like a natural hill or landscape within the courtyard of the historic building. This installation plays with the idea of controlled chaos and the interplay between natural growth and human intervention, challenging the viewer’s perception of nature in an urban and historical context.
There are soft routes into the conceptual Rebel Garden – in that the museum courtyards and walls feature planting and constructed ruptures in their familiar institutional fabric. Inside, well-plotted ‘weeds’ work their way through the museum walls and mosses perform the threat of taking over the height of human cultivated sensibilities – in this instance Flemish art treasures. The inner garden of the Gruuthusemuseum is transformed into “a rebellious guerrilla garden”.
These performative acts are a compromise rather than guerilla gardening. They are designed to symbolise the natural disruption of human-made environments. These interventions ask us – in our thinking – to challenge the control and order typically associated with institutional spaces and cultivated art. It is an appropriate starting place.
The idea of a museum as a garden, or ‘thought bower,’ refocuses it as a space for ideas about humans’ relationship with nature to grow and evolve.
The garden introduced into the museum is a strange hybrid of the traditional, well-maintained gardens like those of the Medici, which symbolise control and privilege, and the overgrown and wild.
Above left: 'Sleeping Girl' by Ben Sledsens. Ben Sledsens is a Belgian artist known for his vibrant, large-scale paintings that often depict idyllic landscapes and scenes with a dreamlike quality. In this work, he uses bright colors and a lush, natural setting to create a peaceful, serene atmosphere, embodying the theme of harmony between humans and nature, which fits well within the context of the Rebel Garden exhibition.
Above right: Interplay of contemporary and traditional at the Groeninge Museum.
Weeds and moss breaking into the space suggest a disruption of human dominance, urging us to reconsider our cultural practices and relationship with nature, yet we presume that the museum has not been handed over to nature and the climate control, ‘don’t climb’ and ‘you may tumble signs’ assure us that this is a sanitised, curated experience.
'Plastic Reef' by Maarten Vanden Eynde. This piece is a globe-like sculpture made from plastic waste collected from oceans around the world, highlighting the global issue of plastic pollution. By using a familiar object like a globe, Vanden Eynde brings attention to the pervasive nature of plastic waste and its impact on the planet, urging viewers to reconsider their relationship with the environment and the material world.
In the institute as garden, tended to by the curator as gardener, Flemish masterpieces centuries old sit alongside contemporary views on life. The world overtaken by plastic waste sits with Hieronymus Bosch’s terrifying ‘The Last Judgement’ offset in the background – whilst both are novel, neither are actually terrifying in affect – and making the connection in theme between the two is actually rather comforting. Noting that architectures of landfill sites are real visions of the contemporary infernal doesn’t spike panic.
I’m amused by disgruntled lap-dogs that have been bred to begrudgingly sit on laps for portraits. I’m struck by spirituality articulated by reverence for supernatural power in human form. There is material wealth laced through traditional portraiture that hangs alongside paintings of the chattel and peasant workforce that bankrolled these lifestyles.
My first encounter with Rebel Garden happened by accident. I visited Museum Sint-Janshospitaal, the oldest preserved hospital in Europe, and unexpectedly encountered some uncanny presences amidst the usual exhibitions. Eventually, I noticed signage leading to the Rebel Garden loft space—naturally, the greatest 'madnesses' are often found in the attic.
from 'Portrait of Sylvie de la Rue' by François van der Donckt
After its recent renovation, St. John’s Hospital Museum blends history with modern art. The museum showcases works by the 15th-century painter Hans Memling alongside contemporary pieces by artists like Berlinde De Bruyckere, creating a dialogue between the old and new. The museum emphasises themes of care and empathy, featuring installations that explore the human experience and highlight the connection between art and healing.
De Bruyckere's 'Reclining Arcangelo II' is reportedly a reclining angel with folded wings on top of a tomb. It read as the blending of moth and human to me and as such the quiet death of a delicate creature elevated to the scriptural witness of fallen archangels.
'Reclining Arcangelo II' by Berlinde De Bruyckere
'The Bridge' by Australian artist Patricia Piccinini moved me most of all as it was strangely familiar, comforting even, and yet evoked huge discomfort and unease.
'The Bridge' is a hyper-realistic sculpture depicting a woman tenderly placing her hand on the hand of a peculiar creature that is part-woman, part-pig. This piece is thoughtfully placed beside a painting of the Good Samaritan, emphasising themes of compassion and connection.
Is this zoomorphism? Is this anthropomorphisation? It is unclear and that's brings us to the nub. We are positioned to experience interspecies empathy by the artist and in turn to reflect on the extent our empathy extends to connect with the experiences of other species.
If we lend human qualities to a pig, do we care more? If we give swine sensibilities to humans, do we care less? If we place 'The Bridge' outside of the notion of hospital, a sequestered place for illness, death and dying, what is the impact then? Place it in a supermarket? In a pharmaceutical company or legislative office?
Above and below: 'The Bridge' by Patricia Piccinini
Just beyond 'The Bridge', the textile installation 'De Fluisterzetel' (Whisper Chair) by Barbara Raes and Klaas Rommelaere crafts stories and clothes from deceased loved ones into a cosy space - again, both familiar and unsettling. Again, both a universal and yet sequestrated experience. Again, we return to popularism and the question of how to open deep cultural conversations with everyone without diluting difficult topics to the understanding and taste of the majority.
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Above right: De Fluisterzetel' (Whisper Chair) by Barbara Raes and Klaas Rommelaere
Below right: The text-based artworks in the image below were created by Lise Duclaux for the Rebel Garden exhibition. Lise Duclaux is known for her work that combines text and visual art to explore themes of nature, ecology, and human interaction with the environment. The phrases displayed, such as "To be curious is to care," reflect her interest in prompting viewers to reflect on their relationship with the natural world and encouraging a more thoughtful and inquisitive approach to environmental stewardship.
And then in the attic space, I found the disrupters. This was the space reserved for young people, Poor Art and Joseph Beuys.
Every human being is an artist, a freedom being, called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that shape and inform our lives
Joseph Beuys
It was familiar and comforting to find the disrupters on the periphery just as it was to find a heightened sense of empathy in the hospital. It is a truism that 'to be curious is to care' - a growth mindset of informed openess, intellectual curiosity and critical thinking seeks the staircase to the attic and the uncomfortable encounter.
The attic of Museum Sint-Janshospitaal was full of protest placards, provocations and the trace presence of those who provoke change. Briklyoung, the youth component of Musea Brugge, presented an installation here and were involved in events across the museum sites. Their work and the placards of Anuna De Wever correlate with the ongoing work of Creatives Now and in particular, Creative Now's collaboration with Young Green Creators', 'Earth Ballot', for Forest of Imagination.
Above: 'Earth Ballot' by Creatives Now, Young Green Creators and workshop participants, featuring work from Sally Tomato.
Below: The protest signs and installation in the image were created by Anuna De Wever for the Rebel Garden exhibition. At just 19 years old, Anuna De Wever has become a prominent voice on the world stage, often referred to as the ‘Belgian Greta Thunberg’ due to her leadership in the School Strike for Climate movement. Known for her passionate advocacy, Anuna has mobilized an entire generation in Belgium, organizing mass climate strikes in response to her frustration over Belgium’s refusal to join the COP24 High Ambition Coalition—a group of 35 countries committed to advancing climate policy.
Relatively Big Question: Should it be familiar and comforting to find the disruptors on the periphery? As Beuys puts it in What Is Art? (1986),
'A total work of art is only possible in the context of the whole of society. Everyone will be a necessary co-creator of a social architecture, and, so long as anyone cannot participate, the ideal form of democracy has not been reached. Whether people are artists, assemblers of machines or nurses, it is a matter of participating in the whole.
It is uncomfortable to find signs of protest stored in an attic. So what is the bridge? What happens if we place placards in the hands of people and the people adjacent to a masterpiece - might we be too close to throwing soup over a Van Gogh here? If we place them in hands in the street, in a supermarket, a legislative office? What then? Curated protest certainly raises questions and gets us a little hot under the collar.
Protest certainly raises questions and demands, but what then? The art we produce and consume needs to be Gesamtkunstwerk - a transformative force for democratic engagement and societal change.
The Disrupter Brings Down the Garden Wall. Nature is the Gardener.
Protest art is more effective when it moves beyond the margins and directly challenges societal norms in everyday spaces.
As Beuys suggests, true social change requires everyone's participation, and confining protest to the sidelines converts it to a sideshow of benevolent inaction. This is not to say that valuable communities of learning are not fostered in its creation.
By placing protest art, or indeed protest, next to masterpieces, in public spaces, or in government offices—it confronts the systems that need change and widens the 'house' of change.
Protest art related to climate aims to awaken a sense of urgency, to disrupt the usual flow of business, and to demand immediate, authentic action on environmental issues. If it has arrived in our museums and galleries, has it achieved its aim? Is not the next step to welcome the disrupter as a co-creator of social architecture without making them tame?
Below: A question raised by a young person in Creatives Now's Town of Children project.
In this sense, the disrupter, the innovator, the artist is beginning to question the classroom wall, the museum wall, the office wall. To question these walls is to test the boundaries of our thinking, to unmake and remake the paradigms we inhabit. The soft inferences of contemporary art commenting on archaic tropes begins to unravel age-old habits but is not enough.
And if the student, the artist and the curator are caught in the conundrum of human activity attempting to correct its own ego-centric focus on human activity, what then? How might we extend our notion of rebel garden to biosphere rather than museum ecology?
How can we shift from a human-centered perspective to one that embraces all life forms?
Can art become a living ecosystem that evolves and interacts with its environment?
What if we viewed nature as a collaborator rather than just a subject in art?
How might integrating Indigenous knowledge and multispecies narratives reshape our approach?
Insist that curatorial practices focus on sustainability and ecological impact.
How can we use technology to deepen our connection with the biosphere?
What role can community engagement and local biodiversity play in redefining art spaces? See School Without Walls and Forest of the Imagination.
If we view nature as the curator and the biosphere as a museum without walls, we can start to enact radical action rather than envision it. While artists and curators can foster creative and critical thinking in a cultivated garden, this approach only brings us to the realisation of the mission's full scope.
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