About the Project

Public Project
Commissioned by the Chicago Office of Public Art Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and The Chicago Park District, part of a city-wide public art project “Art in the Garden,” 2004

The Invisible Garden began with the question "What aren't we seeing, what surrounds us but remains invisible?" Responses were solicited and collected via the web, and a selection of these text responses were made into banners, installed on scaffolding framing the statue of Ben Franklin in Lincoln Park. A large 30' diameter circular garden, designed and planted in a camouflage pattern, encircled the statue. Other elements included convex surveillance mirrors placed in the trees along the path leading to the sculpture.

The Invisible Garden maps a social space, which includes skate boarders, running children, and pedestrians. Like Gustav Klucis' "Radio-Orator," "The Invisible Garden" becomes a point of broadcast of the political, social, and personal issues that question "what aren't we seeing, what surrounds us but remains invisible?"

The Invisible Garden readings & performance program participation by:
Dan Beachy-Quick, Gregg Bordowitz, Romi Crawford, Daniel Eisenberg, Calvin Forbes, Terri Kapsalis, Beth Nugent, Jeffery Skoller, Amber Smock, Dave Snyder, Dana Vinger, and Ellen Rothenberg