Exhibitors
SHOW GARDENS | WATER GARDENS | SMALL GARDENS | CONCEPTUAL GARDENS
INSPIRING SPACES | WINDOWBOXES & HANGING BASKETS
PLANTS | GROWING & SHOWING MARQUEE | MARKET PLACE
Conceptual gardens
Tony Smith
In Digestion
Designer: Tony Smith
Contractor: Hortus Infinitus
Click on the images to view a hi-res version
In Digestion is a conceptual art installation that uses plants as one of its elements. It explores the assimilation or otherwise of both food and information in a decadent society.
The central structure suggests a digestive tract that has been cut into sections like disjointed slides for inspection under a microscope. The digestive tract is lined with carnivorous plants surrounded on two levels by a carpet of lettuce seedlings. Field scopes are mounted on plinths at the boundary; these are trained on the carnivorous plants digesting insects. The lettuces are digesting nutrients from the soil and will in turn be digested by animals. This goes on quietly and efficiently all the time, contrasting with the structure that suggests problems with digestion.
Perhaps it is worth considering what the future holds if we continue consuming more and more of everything. Do we even have a choice? Could it be that we are doomed to live and die in a world where some have more than is good for them and others less than is essential to sustain life? Is this just the natural state of humanity? Visitors can decide for themselves at the show.
Tony Smith started gardening when he was around five years old. After an fifteen-year career in tennis, Tony went back to his roots and has been designing gardens for the last eight years. Tony's design and landscaping company, Hortus Infinitus, won a Silver-Gilt Medal for his show garden at the Hampton Court in 2005.