Perspectives on contemporary gardens

Contemporary gardens – if ever there were a contradictory association. Our traditional idea of the garden, an orderly place of harmony and unyielding calm, is not – at a first glance – compatible with the audacity, inventiveness, or even extravagance of some of today’s creations.
For the contemporary garden is in no way dissociable from the major evolutions affecting our societies. On the contrary, it is a faithful reflection of them. Concurrent to a more aesthetic design, certain contemporary sociological or environmental realities have an obvious effect on our relationship to gardens, and are behind new approaches in the field.
Yet, the creative angle is what has, in recent years, offered contemporary gardens extraordinary growth and development, in particular through a number of novel materials and new ways of using more traditional resources.

A qualified professor in literature, Chantal Colleu-Dumond has spent a vast share of her career abroad, in charge of cultural institutions. A designer and organiser of several cultural events, she worked as director of the French Institute in Essen (Federal Republic of Germany) from 1982 to 1984, as artistic attaché for the French Embassy in Bonn, then cultural and scientific adviser for the French Embassy in Bucharest (Romania) from 1988 to 1991, head of international and European affairs for the French Ministry of Culture from 1991 to 1995, cultural adviser for the French Embassy in Italy from 1995 to 1999, project manager then director of Fontevraux Abbey from 1999 to 2003, cultural adviser for the French Embassy in Berlin and director of the French Institute in Berlin (Germany) from 2003 to 2007. Since 2007, she has worked as director of the Chaumont-sur-Loire estate, reuniting the International Garden Festival, the castle and the centre for arts and nature, of which she coordinates the artistic programme and acts as exhibition commissioner. She has been awarded the titles of Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, Officer of the National Order of Merit, and Officer of Arts and Letters.