TowerTopia Garden
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
Our goal is to transfer the experience of the architectural objects created in artistic workshop to the public spaces. The TowerTopia by Tomasz Domanski presents unification of modern approach to a garden architecture, in which the artistic abstract objects are existing in symbiosis with the garden. This is an invitation to attentiveness that is available-to-hand and opens up to the societies the richness of aesthetics and intensity of the cultural and natural world in daily life.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
TowerTopia represents the artist’s vision embedded in architectural forms. The steel towers and other objects were created for the spatial sculpture garden over last 6 years. The organic and non-organic components are set to introduce the process of learning a new way of seeing and understanding the composite character of a garden architecture. TowerTopia is an example of the spatial heterotopian (after Michel Foucault 1967) practice of non-utilitarian objects in the gardens and building the forms for new quality contemplative space. The project vision is about creating, characterised by symbiotic complexity and integrity. It is about reclaiming universal beauty of the gardens' order. DIS Foundation is working on including TowerTopia to innovative rural touring network, which strives to make professional arts experiences accessible to communities within Lower Silesia region and bring a wide range of individual arts solutions to the public space. As Martin Heidegger explains (in »Building Dwelling Thinking« London, 2008), building signifies not only being but also looking after that which exists. Although TowerTopia does not aspire of being a place for displaying works of art, it definitely links abstract thinking about minimalist forms with garden art. It is dedicated to the seekers and creators of “Other spaces” both private and public. We inhabit the world consuming products and exploiting resources at a constantly accelerating speed, fortunately we still have a strong need to create gardens, parks, and other green areas and this project challenges the common need. The symbiotic relationship between the art of gardening and fine art has been presenting as a specific garden democracy - we can contemplate their interrelations with equal engagement in expansive parks and in miniature ecosystems enclosed in a jar.
Key objectives for sustainability
With the TowerTopia project, the DIS foundation takes part in building the new cultural capital and further increases local creativity. It supports regeneration and transformation of the rural areas in stable cultural growth and successful reinforcement of rural societies. The operation of spatial sculpture garden is aimed also at influencing the social capital and identity of the inhabitants of the county, by opening for them the cultural zone TowerTopia and make this place known also for the visitors from elsewhere. It is a long time objective of performing activities as workshops and performances in order to include arts in the rural transformation and make it complete. The program set for the alternative cultural development of the local community is based on the involvement of the artist and his curator’s walk focused on the introduction to the abstract art. Gathering the feedback from the “Visitors Program”, which shows the high interest in direct communication with the artists, helped to build a service towards increasing the interest in creation. For the next years the program of workshops will be established including “project making” using the architectural solutions for the private and public space. The activities are presented in social media and the video documentation has been presenting the process of creation. The challenge spatial sculpture garden will cause a must visit for the travelers to our region. TowerTopia is also well connected with Wroclaw – capitol of Lower Silesia region, and being a satellite of this center can rely of the support of other artists, Academy of Fine Arts, University and cultural institutions, who help to gain the recognition of the place, through exhibitions, research and social activities.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
H.G. Gadamer points out that “art is knowledge and experiencing an artwork means sharing in that knowledge”. Tomasz Domanski, the artist and the author of the spatial sculpture garden TowerTopia, proves the artistic and architectural value of the arrangements done for the garden. It is believed, that sculptural objects dedicated to garden have an impact on better appreciation of the abstract and conceptual art. In today's world of art it is rare for an artist to afford the luxury of using the language of aesthetic contemplation arising from the purity of form as in works created by Robert Serra or Anish Kapoor. The project aimed at presenting the work process on a specific, orderly space that compensates for the chaos and disorder of the world. Firstly, the creating of architectural towers inscribed in the garden and landscape borrowed from the surrounding hills has been realized in TowerTopia. Secondly, an idea of changing the popular vision of garden architecture to alternative approaches is being implemented. The towers from TowerTopia unlike gazebos propose total other space arrangement. Their architecture is bearing no function but offer the contemplative area. TowerTopia maintain relations – no matter how peculiar – with the world. The space inevitably refer to meanings and values anchored in the natural and cultural landscape that surrounds it. This is an experiment with artifacts and natural objects and various interactions with members of the local community. What counts is the imperative to create and the passion, but above all, the symbiotic relationship between the art of gardening and fine arts. Tomasz Domanski obtained his PhD on Ephemeral Sculpture As a Relative Monument in 2003. He creates sculptures, installations, objects, performance acts, drawings and photographs, mostly uses natural materials: water, ice, fire, wood, hay, ash or metal, basing on the processes they are naturally part of.
Key objectives for inclusion
The project aims at presenting arts considered usually as less accessible for rural communities, and since 2015 offering the sculptures in TowerTopia to locals to experience participation in almost every day. The works have an impact that goes well beyond what can be measured in economic terms. By enabling people of all ages to observe and also encourage to take part in their own creativity or professional building arrangements realizations, the project focuses on inclusion through awareness of individual "making". In the garden, the ability to “understand” art is of secondary importance. When abstract forms are combined with plant compositions a new quality emerges beyond the aesthetic. A space for emotional experience is created, and the feeling of pleasure. Another important aspect of the localization - which is "suspension" of Silesia between Polish and German cultures needs development of a strong cooperation in the cultural area. The DIS foundation goal was to set up the link with the Silesian Museum in Goerlitz-DE, which has been mostly presenting the history of art in Silesia for 20 years in its exhibitions until 1945, and contemporary art remains an undiscovered area. The curator of the Museum, A. Bormann, is organizing study visits for the museum viewers as well as local artists in order to introduce to them new trends in contemporary art created in Lower Silesia, to enable dialogue with the artist in his natural workshop environment, taking into account the geographical, historical and cultural context of the place. Moreover the other artists, particularly musicians and performers are interested in setting their works in TowerTopia, which is a special-use place. It is a garden of interconnected energies: the wind, the metallic sounds, the scent of the plants and air, the play of light at sunrise and sunset, in winter, summer, and fall, revealing a new face with each season.
Results in relation to category
In a non-obvious place for culture, far from established art galleries and venues in the middle of the post-communist village, the unique spatial sculpture garden was completed by one artist. The objects for the project has been created since 2015 and within few years the place became known in the cultural societies of Wroclaw but also local visitors and NGO partners. In June 2021 the art book will be published as a documentation of TowerTopia. In the album of 480 pages, the editors compile articles presenting a historical perspective on the spaces of gardens, with examples of other artists gardens around the world including influence of the artist Tomasz Domanski. The text layer is accompanied by 660 photograms. The co-publisher is Wroclaw Culture Zone – established during the European Capitol of Culture 2016. The project has been already presented in 2017 "End of sculpture" conference, Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, lecture by L. Dmochowska - "Tower - a message in a sculpture", 2018 International conference "Sculpture Today III - Sculpture Parks", - T. Domanski "Heterotrophy TowerTopia", Center of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko and the National Museum in Wroclaw. The publications and reviews: "Sculpture Today III", essay on Wiezogrod (TowerTopia) the Center of Polish Sculpture in Orońsko, "Sculpture of time in the garden of events", the essay by C. Was "Quart", Institute of Art History of the University of Wroclaw B. Frydryczak, "Tower / mediated energy", Format No. 81, 2019, "Lower Silesia in Process", Center for Culture and Art, Wroclaw 2016., P. Syposz, "Work in the countryside", BWA no. 11, 2015. TowerTopia was included to the Lower Silesian artists’ colonies as the most representative artist workshop (“Dolny Slask w tworzeniu", Wroclaw 2016) The frequently announcements about TowerTopia posted in social media, the short videos, including the Museum Night, and the social recognition has been very rewarding and promising for the future operations.
How Citizens benefit
The process of building of the spatial sculptures has been documented and presented in the social media and gained followers, who accompanied all the phases of the project implementation. The first objects were built with the help of local inhabitants. The visitors gave the feedback on how the objects and the place resonate on them. Each of the towers can be entered, the vertical forms of TowerTopia contain in their substance the enigma and meditative potential. The positive reactions brought about the project of photographs, taken with visitors under the Torii Gate (one of the objects). Moreover, It has been already noticed, that the existence of this sculpture garden, characterized by clarity, complexity and integrity is well perceived and accepted locally. The closest neighborhood become less reluctant to the surroundings and the villagers have started to arrange their properties attentively. Turning fallow overgrown into a sculpture garden is bringing the interest of such space for several groups. This results from the interdisciplinary potential of the place which connects the audience through a love of art, but also a love for gardens. The second group are professionals who professionally deal with art, landscape architecture, and or creative industries. The third group consists of students who are looking for their future niches, looking for inspiration for their visual and performative activities. The fourth group are slow-tourism participants, seekers of unusual places in Lower Silesia, which with their non-obvious function and appearance become the favorite destination of their travels. The place emanates with its clear message to the society that the starting point may be just a ruin and the resources are very often overestimated, what is underestimated is the involvement and creativity. The artist's presentation, curator's walk, publishing the articles about TowerTopia has opened the private artist’s workshop to the communities.
Innovative character
From the artist workshop TowerTopia become a specific test bed for presenting abstract sculptures in a garden. The artist colony is an important trend setter for innovative leisure space not only in Lower Silesia. TowerTopia participates in creating an image of a region that supports building of the new competences on the basis of artistic creation. Namely topiary art, modernization of garden architecture, the use of new materials in the garden context, such as steel, the natural process of destruction of which is part of an ecological approach and a change in the way of thinking about the aesthetics of the garden. It has been also plan to use this specific space, which uses the water containers, for discussion of garden water retention to support the life plant conditions for the coming years. Rainwater storage as a key issue in the climate change will also influence design of small architecture related to gardens, parks and green spaces in cities and villages.
