Garden Futures: Designing with Nature

From November 10, 2023 to March 31, 2024

Garden Futures will sprawl across both museums, taking over the exhibition spaces on Kasarmikatu and Korkeavuorenkatu from November 10, 2023.

Approaching gardens through architecture, design, and art, Garden Futures: Designing with Nature is a touring exhibition by Vitra Design Museum, the Wüstenrot Foundation, and the Nieuwe Instituut, with Helsinki being its first stop.

The Garden Futures exhibition demonstrates that even private gardens are interconnected with society in various ways. The ongoing transformation invites us to view gardens from a different perspective: rather than as romantic escapes, they are now examined through activism, social justice, and biodiversity. The exhibition highlights, for example, how many of the familiar plants in Western gardens have deep roots in colonialism. 

The exhibition showcases not only design and landscape architecture related to gardens but also artworks that explore the concept of gardens. Local examples and projects support the international perspective of the touring exhibition.