13. LE JARDIN COMESTIBLE
Le Jardin Comestible is a nostalgic memory of the tiny Soviet dacha plots where without much advanced agricultural technologies people gardened not just for fun, but to survive through the years of deficit.
DESIGNERS
Anton KOCHURKIN and Elisabeth TSAPLINA (8 lines), architects, Anna ANDREYEVA, Maria ASHKOVA and Aleksandra SOKOLOVA, landscape architects (Alphabet City), and Vladislav SOROKIN, sound artist
RUSSIA
Anton Kochurkin is an architect, curator and artist. He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Architecture in 2002. In 2004 he became a member of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2006, along with Nicholay Polissky, Julia Bychkova and others he founded a land art festival Archstoyanie and curates it till now. From 2011 till now he is a founder and CEO of an architectural agency “8 lines”. He works a lot in the development of public spaces,involving people of various specializations in his projects, initiating multidisciplinary dialogue , constantly finding new ways of expression for the social needs of a modern society.
Anna Andreyeva is a planting designer and founder and managing partner at “Alphabet City”, a Moscow-based landscape practice. Her interest in planting started early, aged 12, at her family's dacha, or country cottage. She studied economics at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), and started work in journalism and marketing research, as there was not yet a market in Russia for landscape design. But she continued to try out new plants and combinations at the dacha. After a few years she realized landscape design was her true vocation, and went back to school. She graduated in 2012 from a two-year course at the Sogetsu School of Design at Moscow Architectural University, and started work with private clients in Moscow and elsewhere. She continued to developed her knowledge of plants through volunteer work at Moscow's Botanical Gardens. In 2012, she joined the newly created Moscow City Authority for Parks, or Mosgorpark, and was the first to introduce the New Perennial style planting to Moscow at Muzeon Park. The same year her work at Muzeon was seen by the Japanese architect Junya Ishigami, who invited her to develop a planting concept for Moscow's Polytechnic Museum. In 2013, she collaborated with Moscow-based Wowhaus, an architectural practice, and developed planting for the Krymskaya Embankment. This new, 1km long pedestrian space has over 5,000 sq.m. of meadow planting and is the biggest showcase for the New Perennials in Moscow. In 2014, Anna and her practice collaborated with British creative consultancy LDA Design to develop concepts for nine city parks for Mosgorpark. Anna designed all the planting, and later the same year two of the parks – Sadovniki and Syrenevy Sad (the Lylac Garden) were built. Sadovniki features massive perennial borders and was named the best contemporary park outside central Moscow by Afisha magazine. In 2015 Anna's projects continued to be built in Moscow, such as Triumphalnaya Square, another meadow style planting in the city centre.
Alexandra Sokolov is a landscape architect at “Alphabet City”. Since childhood, she was interested in gardening and spent a lot of time working at the family 'datcha'. Later she chose architecture as her specialization and is now finishing her master's degree at Moscow Architectural Institute. Not so long ago she realized that landscape architecture is what she wants to dedicate her life to, now she works in this direction and takes part in various projects. She sees participation in the festival as a great honor and a chance of getting invaluable experience working with high-class professionals.
Maria Ashkova is a landscape architect and junior partner at “Alphabet City”. She has graduated from Moscow State Univercity of Land Planning in 2009. She has worked for three years as an architect for the SPEECH architectural practice where she discovered her love for the landscape. She started doing landcape project at SPEECH and later joined Anna Andreyeva as a junior partner at “Alphabet City”. She has worked on various park projects for Mosgorpark as well as competitions and private projects.
Vladislav Sorokin is a Russian artist, entrepreneur and journalist. He works in field recordings, media performance and science art. Main topics of interests are: Ecology of Sound, Hive Mind – is the next evolutional step?, Quantum psychology, Nature of creativity.
Lisa Tsaplina was born in Veliky Novgorod in 1992. She graduated from the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering in 2015 and works at an architectural practice Eight Lines as an architect. She truly believes that a bond of landscape and architecture can do marvellous things with fantastical impact on human-being. Togeher with her boss Anton Kochurkin she has designed the greenhouses for the garden.
