News

Grand-Métis, Quebec, June 24, 2023 – The 24^th edition of the International Garden Festival, titled RACINES | ROOTS, is now open to the public. This year, Ève De Garie-Lamanque, the event’s Artistic Director, invited designers to imagine a present and a future that is ecologically, economically, and culturally responsible by drawing on the teachings of past generations.

 

The current edition of the Festival comprises 22 in situ contemporary gardens, including 5 brand-new ones, as well as the stand-alone installations Mer du Vent and Absolues Jardin. Designers from Quebec, Ontario, Sweden and Germany were present for the opening of the Festival, which will run until October 1, 2023.

 

With the advent of the digital age, globalization and the rapid speed of technological advancement that are changing our relationship with time, the physical world and each other, ROOTS rejects the unrooted vision implanted by the industrial revolution to embrace an approach that seeks to be nourished from a common heritage. 

 

The theme counters the forces of homogenization that is part of globalization, incorporating the notion of globality coined by the Martinique poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant (1928-2011). It invites a return to what is essential by integrating the use of native plants, local materials – whether reused or with limited environmental impact –, as well as traditional methods of construction combined with a contemporary vision that embraces both regional communities and ecosystems. ROOTS intends to challenge the status quo and create innovative human scale environments. It seeks to transcend generations and disciplines.

 

• Le Jardin des quatre colonnes

Vincent Dumay, Baptiste Wullschleger | Sweden + France

• Maillage

Friche Atelier (Frédérique Allard, Jean-Jacques Yervant, Aliénor de Montalivet) | Quebec, Canada 

• Matière-Matière

Studio Haricot (Marie-Pier Caron-Desrochers, Tristan Morissette), Rose-Marie Guévin, Vincent Ouellet | Quebec, Canada 

• Racines de mer

Cassandra Ducharme-Martin, Gabriel Demeule | Quebec, Canada

• S’Y RETROUVER

Jinny Yu, Ki Jun Kim, Frédéric Pitre | Ontario & Quebec, Canada + Germany 

 

This year’s selection committee was composed of David Bonnard, Architect HMONP (ENSAL) and founder of HYTT Architecture, Lyon, France; Stéphanie Henry, Landscape Architect AAPQ-CSLA and co-founder of Castor et Pollux – Agence de paysage et design urbain, Montreal; François Côté, Senior Partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada and member of the Festival’s Board of Directors; Alexander Reford, Director of the Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens; Ève De Garie-Lamanque, Artistic Director of the International Garden Festival; and François Leblanc, the Festival’s Technical Coordinator.

 

The visual identity for the 24^th edition of the International Garden Festival was designed by the talented team at Principal. For as long as they have been working with us on Festival content, their work (posters, typography and campaigns) has garnered international acclaim, including most recently a TDC Certificate of Typographic Excellence (project: ADAPTATION, 23^rd edition of the Festival). Last fall, Principal was named Design Studio of the Year by the Advertising & Design Club of Canada (ADCC). 

 

• Mer du Vent, 2022 (from July 7)

Emmanuelle Loslier and Camille Zaroubi, in collaboration with Sébastien Beaulieu

Presented in partnership with the Centre d’art de Kamouraska

• Absolues Jardin, 2022 (July)

Anne Barnard, Marianne Demers, Lou Marchais

Designed as part of a collaboration with UQAM’s DESS en design d’événements

 

The International Garden Festival is the leading contemporary garden festival in North America. Since its inception in 2000, more than 250 gardens have been exhibited at Grand-Métis and as extra-mural projects in Canada and around the world. Presented at the Reford Gardens, at the gateway to the Gaspé Peninsula, the Festival is held on a site adjacent to the historic gardens created by Elsie Reford, thereby establishing a bridge between history and modernity, and a dialogue between conservation, tradition and innovation. Each year the Festival exhibits conceptual gardens created by more than seventy architects, landscape architects and designers from various disciplines in a pristine environment on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. The event acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, le Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, Emploi-Québec, and la Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec. 

 

A National Historic Site of Canada and a Quebec heritage site, the Reford Gardens is a must-see stop for anyone visiting the Gaspé and the Lower St. Lawrence. A cultural space and tourist destination for 60 years, the Reford Gardens are an iconic landscape that offers visitors soothing and innovative experiences of connection to nature. Located at the confluence of the St. Lawrence and Mitis rivers, they were designed by the adventurous horticulturist Elsie Reford from 1926 to 1958 and are listed as one of North America's most famed gardens and one of the world's top 150 great gardens. Hydro-Québec has been the lead sponsor of the Reford Gardens since 1999. Close to 60,000 people visited the Reford Gardens in 2022.

 

Source:

Ève De Garie-Lamanque

Artistic Director

International Garden Festival