What is a garden? One that is well designed is not merely a collection of plants, but may also offer a shared environment, structure, a sense of privacy, audible cues, and a connection to the natural world. Or maybe not.
Storm King Art Center’s Light and Landscape exhibition deconstructs preconceived garden “rules.” Fourteen artists—including Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, and Donald Judd—are featured in two-dozen installations, ten of which are site-specific, all using light as a fluctuating medium. As with the majority of Storm King’s permanent collection, the pieces are arranged within easy walking distance on 500 acres of lush, flowering meadows, hillsides, and woodlands in New York’s Hudson Valley. (Visitors may also rent bikes or ride the free trolley.) William Lamson’s caramelized sugar Solarium, Alyson Shotz’s ever-reflecting Mirror Fence, and Peter Coffin’s sound installation Untitled (Sunshine) deliver elements of garden design in well-defined, thought-provoking works. Other artists employ honey-making bees, a solar-powered lunar module, and explosions of gamma-ray-colored confetti to remind us that there is one evergreen constant that defines a garden: never-ending change.
Light and Landscape at Storm King Art Center through November 11; stormking.org