What: RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Where: Royal Hospital, Chelsea
When: May 2014
From the perspective of someone who writes about art, it was intriguing to consider a suggestion made by one of the contributors to the BBC's coverage of this year's Chelsea Flower Show that a more curatorial approach should be taken to the display of the show gardens. Having visited the show and watched the television coverage, it is clear that the garden designers consider their gardens in the same way that artists consider their paintings or sculptures, and that there is legitimately a case for conceiving of these show gardens as installation pieces, of a kind. The word 'curate' is currently notoriously overused and overly fashionable, but in the context of the Chelsea Flower Show, it might just have its uses.
The show gardens - ranging from the stunning Telegraph garden, to my personal favourite and Best In Show, the Laurent-Perrier garden - are beautifully portrayed on television, with sweeping camera angles and close-ups of the exquisite detailing that earned them their golds. The 'Fresh' gardens are similarly beautifully televised. But in the flesh, these tranquil and intriguing spaces seem shoehorned by camera crews, thronging visitors, and commercial stands. Organising the show so as to display them to their full potential - perhaps with heightened walkways allowing visitors to gain a view from on high, or by spacing them further apart - might be just thing to allow these true works of art to be fully appreciated by those who flock to see them.
