Τhe example of the garden is used in mythology, religious texts and even contemporary philosophy to express a multitude of idealized situations. In Amaurot, the capital of the fantastic Utopia of Thomas More, although houses and gardens are common, the residents compete with each other on the cultivation and caring of the gardens so that there is “nothing belonging to the whole town that is both more useful and more pleasant”. Even the etymology of the word “paradise” can be traced back to the Avestan (East Iranian language dated ca 10th century B.C.) word for garden. The garden in the Persian tradition is the earthly version of paradise and gardening develops a detailed typology of public and private enclosed outdoor spaces aiming at a symbolic or descriptive representation of the world. Michel Foucault uses the paradigm of the Persian garden as an example of “heterotopia”, the reflection of a utopia in the real world, and suggests that “the garden is a rug onto which the whole world comes to enact its symbolic perfection” and that “The garden is the smallest parcel of the world and then it is the totality of the world.”
An attempt of representing the whole world is a characteristic of European public and private gardens as well, such as in the National Garden of Athens. This garden, designed and realized in the 1830s, in line with the “English style” emulated an open air natural history museum through its architectural and natural elements, and included among its open or densely planted spaces native and exotic plants, birds and animals, artificial lakes, bridges, pergolas and shaded pathways. Ancient ruins of classical antiquity were also included according to the European romantic tradition of the time.
The National Garden is a monument linked with the history of the modern Greek state. Important historical events as well as circumstance have left their mark on the garden, such as the addition of Zappeion Megaron for the first contemporary Olympic Games in 1896, the renaming of the garden from “Royal” to “National” after the first abolition of monarchy in 1924, its near complete destruction from heavy snowfall in 1936, its damage from drought during the years of German occupation.
The group Indoors Plus remodels the ground plan of the garden in the process of creating a large scale model which the viewer can peruse. The lack of colour transforms the dispersed in every level installation into a polar landscape. Entering the space of the installation causes vibrations in the forms balanced on thin metal rods. Electronic sensors perceive the viewer’s motion which causes the addition new sound layers the soundscape composed of natural and electronic sounds.
Starting with the intention of creating a common work through a collective process were every member of the team maintains its individuality, Indoors Plus settle upon the theme of the garden and present an installation based on the feelings of instability, dominant in the last few years, while, at the same time, giving a sample of the creativity of group collaboration.