052-0737-24L My Garden's Boundaries are the Horizon: A Case Study of Queer Gardens
| Semester | Autumn Semester 2024 |
| Lecturers | C. Baumann |
| Periodicity | every semester recurring course |
| Language of instruction | English |
Courses
| Number | Title | Hours | Lecturers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 052-0737-24 S | My Garden's Boundaries are the Horizon: A Case Study of Queer Gardens No course on 25.10.2024 (seminar week) and in the last two weeks of the semester. | 2 hrs |
| C. Baumann |
Catalogue data
| Abstract | This course aims to raise awareness about the necessity to look at architectural history through a non-normative lens. The participants will be invited to explore the topic of queer gardens via the review of exemplary case studies. We will discuss how the shape of those gardens have been influenced by their owner’s personality and argue if such spaces share a common denominator. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | Participants will conduct an analysis of case studies through the means of archival and iconographical research. They will also redraw the gardens in plans and sections in order to understand the specificity of those spaces. They will be invited to sharpen their critical thinking and debate the topic of queer gardens: Can one define the spatial criteria of such a typology? Does such a genre even exist? The outcome of this weekly elective course will be a presentation of the selected garden along with pictures, plans, section, a brief descriptive text and a bibliography list. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | “My garden's boundaries are the horizon” (1) is one of the first sentence used by Derek Jarman, the late English artist, filmmaker and gay rights activist in the book Modern Nature to describe his small garden located in Dungeness, south Kent. The diary depicts Jarman’s artist life, his ordeal dealing with AIDS as well as his love for gardening. The word garden comes from the etymology “to guard” and is by definition an enclosed outdoor space. What a contradiction then to describe a garden, as Jarman’s does, by the absence of its limits! Dungeness has emerged over time as an exemplary reference of queer garden, but does such a typology even exists? And if it does, what are its characteristics? “Growing up queer means experiencing the destabilising absence of broad and accessible queer history”.(2) Architecture as well as landscape architecture are far from exempt from this reality and there are little stories about queer landscapes to be found in the textbooks. In order to bridge this knowledge gap, we will study the gardens of openly queer personalities of the 20th and 21st century. The case studies will include, but not limited to, the followings: - Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo, Mexico - Dungeness, Derek Jarman, United Kingdom - Majorelle Garden, Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé, Morocco - Sissinghurst, Vita Sackville-West, United Kingdom - Temple de l'Amitié, Natalie Clifford Barney, Paris - Villa Gamberaia, Florence Blood and Princess Ghyka, Italy (1) Modern Nature, The Journals of Derek Jarman, Derek Jarman, Paperback, 2018 (2)Queer spaces, an Atlas of LGBTQ+ Places and Stories, Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell (Eds), Routledge, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | A bibliography specifically focused on queer spaces will be given at the beginning of the semester. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | The assessment will be based on the following criteria: quality of the research, critical thinking, participation in the group discussions, and quality of the final presentation. The number of participants is limited to 20. A short letter of motivation via mail is expected for application. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Competencies |
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Performance assessment
| Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again) | |
Performance assessment as a semester course | |
| ECTS credits | 2 credits |
| Examiners | C. Baumann |
| Type | ungraded semester performance |
| Language of examination | English |
| Repetition | Repetition only possible after re-enrolling for the course unit. |
Learning materials
| No public learning materials available. | |
| Only public learning materials are listed. |
Groups
| No information on groups available. |
Restrictions
| There are no additional restrictions for the registration. |
Offered in
| Programme | Section | Type | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture Bachelor | Landscape and Urban Studies | W | |