UNITED KINGDOM SUMMER PEARLS: London's architectural gems along the banks of the Thames
MUSIC: Europe's best pop and rock gatherings
BAGPIPES: The plaintive sounds of Scotland
SUBMARIUM: Journey to the bottom of the sea FESTIVALS: Fun in the sun in West Belfast
MORE ..
FRANCE and SWITZERLAND VULCANIA: Blow your top at France's volcano park
ART: Berthe Morisot, the unknown Impressionist
FESTIVALS: Aix-en-Provence has it all
ART: The Barbizon School painters come to life
ART: Take a stroll through medieval gardens of delight
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SPAIN, PORTUGAL, ITALY and GREECE SALAMANCA: The city splashes out on culture
MUSIC: God's rock stars: the singing Greek monks
FOOD: Italy's unusual culinary delights
FILM: Great outdoor viewing in Rome
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GERMANY and BENELUX HORTICULTURE: The world blossoms at Floriade
BRUGGE: Belgium's second city shines
ART: Berlin's homage to multiculturalism ART: The best of the world's artists on show at Documenta 11
DANCE: Czech twin ballerinos steal the show in Hamburg MORE ..
CENTRAL and EASTERN EUROPE ART: Yugoslavia's modern art museum is back
ART: A retrospective of Samizdat art and writing from the Communist bloc
GRAZ: Austria's little-known city of culture
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THE NORDIC REGION DESIGN: Denmark celebrates Arne Jacobsen
MUSEUM: Get a blast from the past at Stalin World
STOCKHOLM: Welcome to the Venice of the North
MUSIC: Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on tour MORE ..
PLUS LISTINGS: Other things to see and do in each region
The wonderful, wild and weird are on show at the World's Fair of flowers
The Floriade's message is spelled out by a million blooms on a valley floor: "Feel the art of nature." Chief landscape architect Niek Roozen says "the point is to see, smell, taste, even to hear the art of nature." Director John Reinhard invites visitors to experience "a sensory combination of plants, water and art." Trust us: forget the florid talk and just enjoy the pretty flowers.
There are millions at the Floriade, the once-a-decade mother of all horticultural shows, hosted by the Netherlands, the world's largest exporter of cut flowers. More than 3 million visitors are expected at the 65-hectare park outside Amsterdam to see tulips, orchids and rhododendrons erupt in a riot of color. Other members of the plant kingdom will also be on show: tall conifers and tiny mushrooms, fat tomatoes and frail shrubs. As laudable as this year's themes of sustainability and technology may be, they can't compete with the diversity and beauty of the flora, qualities that make this show worth seeing.
The Floriade is best when it focuses on landscapes, plants and flowers. The world's largest water-lily collection is one focal point. Lucky visitors will be able to catch one of the expo's briefest spectacles — some of the 150-plus varieties of water lily on display in a sheltered cove will bloom for just an hour. Also in the park's lakeside section is a world of wildflowers, water features and winding paths reminiscent of English country gardens. And over the next five months, the exhibition will blossom with seasonal displays: bulbs for spring, house plants in early summer, roses in August, autumn flowers in September.
More than 30 countries have erected national pavilions to spotlight indigenous plants and flowers. The best pair a country's architectural heritage with natural elements. Indonesia's pavilion focuses on the facade of a classical Jakarta home, graced by two Javan idols and tropical blooms in deep greens, luscious pinks and pure whites. Japan's is a traditional tea garden with alabaster statues and evergreen shrubs. The worst pavilions are straight from the pages of tacky travel brochures — Israel makes liberal use of plastic reproductions of citrus fruit.
Many of the exhibits are housed under a giant glass roof that is the Floriade's greatest technological feat. The 100-by-278-m covering that shelters an area larger than four soccer fields is the largest solar generator ever built on a single roof, supplying nearly all the energy that the exhibition will need. Such time, thought and expense have gone into many of the Floriade's presentations. "The park is dedicated to showing how man can make the best use of plants to live well," says Roozen, the landscape architect. This idea is explored imaginatively in the Green City of Tomorrow, a series of four islands with futuristic homes designed for city-dwellers. The prototypes provoke thought and maybe a few smiles, but you won't see them in London or Berlin anytime soon. There's the tall, narrow Tarzanesque treehouse — striking, but who really wants two giant poplars poking through the roof and a jungly tangle of plants growing down? And there's the meadow garden. Yes, we like sheep, but how well would a roof pasture really work?
The Floriade gets weirder. The indoor avant-garde fashion garden juxtaposes hanging plants with mannequins wearing metal outfits. It's supposed to be futuristic. Instead, it's confirmation that the organizers tried too hard to be futuristic. Then there's the bizarre Web. Designed by Dutch architect Kas Oosterhuis, the building is sheathed in ugly silver plastic molding and has a herd of fake cows on its lawn. The designers do bring the show down to earth, with country-fair touches that get plant lovers involved. Those with green thumbs can enter plants and flowers into competition. And those who wish theirs were greener can take part in workshops on various horticultural techniques.
Where Floriade succeeds, it's because of the raw materials —
the plants and flowers that this j30 million production was
designed to highlight — rather than the lofty and somewhat
esoteric ambitions of the exhibition's masterminds. Perhaps
the best example of this is Big Spotters' Hill. Designed on
the dimensions of Egypt's Pyramid of Cheops, this manmade, grass-topped
mound of sand was built layer by layer over nearly four years.
At the top you'll find a colorful panoramic view of the park
— and a tall steel sculpture. There is, of course, a contrived
explanation for this: the organizers call it "a space temple."
Whatever. The fact is, it's a remarkable, if odd, sight. Plus,
in this low-lying country, 40 meters of hill and 15 more of
steel give the Floriade claim to being one of the Netherlands'
high points — literally. —
Reported by ANDREW ROSENBAUM/Haarlemmermeer
Floriade 2002, Haarlemmermeer, the Netherlands • Tickets:adults €17, children 4-12 €8.50, children under
three free • Open:Through October 20 • Phone:+31 (0)172 428 629 • Website:www.floriade.com
