The Mariners’ Garden

Rostock: A port city, a location near the sea; the wind, sky, and faraway lands give this site its character. Mariners, sailors, Vikings, the navy, and pirates all share the importance of ‘the reunion, the return’. In every era, in the past, in the present day, and in the future, the return to the harbour, to the city that served as the point of departure, is the overriding feeling. Every day, every morning the mariner is on his voyage he looks into the distance. “Land ahoy” means life and longing, longing for his beloved, for his wife or fiancé. Mariners return with fruit from Poseidon’s garden, with flowers and roses. The Mariners’ Garden expresses this yearning. The hidden theme ‘familiar and foreign’ was also a public reminder at the IGA 2003 of the xenophobia still present in Europe at the beginning of the 21st century.    

Location: Rostock

Client: IGA Rostock 2003 GmbH