International Garden Competition
Grand Metis, Quebec, Canada
2019
Travis Van Liere Studio

CROSS * PURPOSES was submitted to an international design competition that seeks to foster creative challenges to the idea of the garden and its role in contemporary culture while also creating unique visitor experiences. Installations are located on prescribed plots of about 20 meters by 10 meters within a forest in Quebec. Proposals were instructed to adhere to the installation timeline, spatial considerations, and preparation requirement of spending a week constructing the project. We were asked to employ this year’s Métissages theme to promote interplay between disciplines, cultures, and ideas. We took the idea of cultures literally, employing Oyster mushroom culture to cross the borders of cells and transform our border installation.

CROSS * PURPOSES speaks to humanity’s irreconcilable urge to both build and break down barriers. Through the inevitable mixing of ideas, barriers become blurred. It is no accident that borders are often sites of innovation and new cultural fusions. This process represents the subversive agency of métissage, quietly defying constructed walls and human separation. Our desire to build and break barriers is at cross-purposes. The myceliation of the birch artifacts in our installation mirrors this idea as wood breaks down into something new.