Community gardens as public art

Urban Farm DB summary

This article aims to discuss community gardens as works of public art. While the artistic status of gardens has generally been recognized mainly in relation to historic gardens and parks or the work of contemporary landscape architects, the article argues the same approach can apply to community gardens. First, it argues that aligning community gardens with contemporary art is honorific, showing they can be viewed as more than vernacular art, given their social and political dimension. Second, despite their seemingly idyllic character, community gardens are often contested spaces, with conflict sparked in part by community garden aesthetics. It argues that recognizing community gardens as art is best done by referring to the framework of "new genre public art" rather than to "paradigmatic arts" such as architecture or painting.