Photo: Hydar Dewachi, courtesy of the artist, The Third Line, Dubai & Delfina Foundation, London
How many waking hours does one spend trying to keep nature at bay? We clean, sweep, and tidy up without giving much thought to the tasks that give us a sense of control over our environment and our own bodies. Study for a Garden, the outcome of Abbas Akhavan’s ten-week residency with the Delfina Foundation, is an uncanny reminder of this primal urge for dominance.
The tone is set right inside the front door of the derelict domestic building where Akhavan devised his installations, with a row of hedges partially blocking visitors’ access. The controlled invasion of the garden doesn’t stop there, as the work is deftly scattered throughout the house, from basement to second floor. The garden has crept indoors, and what might constitute a lovely sight when glimpsed from one’s living room window is somehow disquieting when it sits within the actual room. Such is the case with a tangle of ivy growing straight out of a gaudy period carpet in one of the first-floor rooms. Even more unsettling is the sprinkler that occupies the top-floor room, sending wave after wave of water to seep into the ancient linoleum floor.
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