The Garden of Eden was (and is) the terrestrial paradise. Throughout the history of Western Art, there have been artists aplenty who have dealt with the subject, such as Masaccio, Hieronymus Bosch, Rubens, and more. This ideal garden was a place where nature was not inimical in any artistic rendition (by nature we understand everything that is not human, and which includes plants, animals, as well as other elements). The enemy is the one that means ill for us, involving a threat. Against this background, this statement is paradoxical given that human beings entail the greatest threat to the ideal garden…

As I have proposed in previous workshops, the main idea behind this proposal consists of trying to put ourselves in the place of an animal-other or any living being-other. For that purpose, I will make use of the “Garden of Eden” concept, since its formulation changes utterly depending on who the dwellers of paradise are. By way of example, the Garden of Eden for a cow or for a camel would differ greatly, and likewise for a domestic dog. Cows, camels, dust mites, and our very selves belong to the planetary body. Therefore, we are all potential Gardens of Eden as well.

What we will be “walking about” this workshop:

-Reflecting upon the concepts of Paradise and Garden of Eden, as ideal places to inhabit, and to understand that the projections of Eden were always made from an anthropocentric perspective; or an androcentric, more like…

-Conceiving that our own bodies, which belong to the planetary body, can also be a part of Eden. The Garden of Eden is at hand… it is within us as well.

-Imagining how other beings express wellbeing and satisfaction.

-Drawing, I forgot to say it! Eden comes here to draw, to draw the “corpuscular diversity in motion” that integrates it-self.

Participants nr: 30
Duration: 4H
Meeting point: Art gallery Garagem Avenida
Meeting time: 2pm