In Horto - Venlo

In Horto (Latin for “in the garden”) is a spatial intervention based on the enclosed garden; a place for slowing down and meeting in an urban context.

The project is located on Dominicanenplein in Venlo, a heavily paved square in the city centre. The square is surrounded by shops and homes, as well as a hospice and a drop-in centre for people affected by cancer. Today, the square is mainly used as a thoroughfare to nearby streets, but in the past it was a flower garden belonging to the Mariaweide monastery. Historical drawings show the Dominican monastery and extensive green areas within the walls of the old city ramparts.

There are five old plane trees on Dominican Square, which are the subject of the intervention. A ring has been designed around a lamppost, from which homemade cushions and rugs hang. The cushions and rugs can be used to lie on and look up at the treetops.

With their metre-high trunks, imposing systems of twisting branches and foliage, the plane trees form a marvellous whole. No two tree leaves are the same. The aim is therefore to create, even if only for a moment, a place of encounter in the centre of the city; with the tree, with another person, with transience, with a moment of beauty.

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In Horto was part of the Nieuwe Uitzichten (New Perspectives) programme organised by Museum van Bommel van Dam in Venlo and Odapark in Venray. Six art projects were realised as part of this programme, all of which contributed to the value of greening: how can we create and preserve space for nature in order to contribute to a pleasant living environment, biodiversity and climate adaptation?

At the same time as the spatial intervention on Dominicanenplein, there was an exhibition to visit in Odapark in Venray.

Doerak Film made a video about the realisation of the project.

Ingeborg Meulendijks in collaboration with Rick van der Linden

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