Fog Garden

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND: Chyon and Madar were selected, along with around 100 multidisciplinary participants from over 20 countries, to develop a research-based project over the course of 6 months at BIO 50, Slovenia's biennal of design.The resulting project Fog Garden was exhibited at 3, 2, 1 TEST, the core exhibition that shaped the overall BIO 50 event. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: Fog Garden was developed out of research into what water means to us, in terms of its cultural, biological, sensorial, technical and chemical significances. Chyon and Mardar identified fogponics as a recent innovation in horticultural technology that would be fertile ground for exploration. The resulting proposal, as a segue between the National Gallery of Slovenia and Tivoli Park, married horticultural science, ultrasonic misting technology, and aesthetics into a unique gallery installation, comprising digital prints and functioning prototypes. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: BIO 50 is Europe's oldest design biennial. The Museum of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana (MAO) and the guest curator held an international call for expressions of interest in January 2014. After a peer review process, participants were selected from across the globe to form interdisciplinary teams to address each of the BIO 50's 11 themes. The exhibition opened for 3 months at 3 major venues and 35 additional venues around the city of Ljubljana. The opening of the BIO 50 was attended by the design press from across Europe, and was opened by design critics for The Guardian and The New York Times. Fog Garden was exhibited as part of the Public Water Public Space theme in the Jakopic Gallery, one of the 3 main venues. It received extensive international review in Designboom and Slovenian media RTV and Tromba, and was featured in the exhibition catalogue. Fog Garden is currently under consideration for the Slovenian Pavilion for Expo 2015 in Milan.