light box

images by Louise Terry and Sean Healy

sound space

images by Sean Healy

pods

photos by louise terry and michael rigby

shadows

photos by michael rigby

ethereal

ai yamamoto performing in the bamboo forest

cacophony

photos by michael rigby and louise terry

Lost Gardens Location Revealed: Level 3, 96 Flinders Street Melbourne from 27-31 March 2006

Hidden for decades Melbournes own lost gardens will be open to the public for five short nights from the 27 - 31 March 2006, located at Level 3, 96 Flnders St in the Melbourne CBD. The sensitive plant life are best viewed after sun down so the gardens will be open from 6pm onwards.

The Lost Garden Found Research Team have been investigating the long and intriguing history of Melbourne’s Lost Gardens. Though how they actually came into being is still largely a mystery, many tales of their origins have circulated over the years. The most popular of these tells that the gardens were commissioned by Isabelle Durand, a sculptress who immigrated to Melbourne following the death of her young husband in France in 1917. In the early 30’s the gardens are said to have been renown amongst Melbourne artists as a venue for superb evening soirees, hosted by Isabelle herself. It is also said that many of the artisans that created the intricacies of the Forum Theatre were employed on the formation of the gardens but that Isabelle herself always maintained that the gardens had been simply ‘discovered’. Due to family circumstances, Isabelle retired to France in 1946 and without someone to attend to them, the gardens lapsed into disrepair. On her death in 1958, ownership of the gardens passed to her nephew in America who, not having any personal association with their history left the gardens undisturbed and forgotten…

Regardless of their beginnings the gardens were left to their own devices for many years and the flora and fauna within it continued to evolve outside of human restraint. Many people attest to having stumbled across the gardens, enjoying their wild and hidden delights and occasionally adding their own work along the way. Although the gardens have infused Melbourne culture over the years, providing inspiration for local artists, their existence has mostly been construed as urban myth.

Nearly a year ago The Lost Garden Found Research Team discovered documents that led them to the gardens’ location, thrusting this myth back into reality. Although they can offer no conclusive argument as to how the gardens came into existence they hope that the public launch of the Lost Garden Sampler as well as the opportunity to visit the mysterious Lost Gardens, will provide inspiration to further generations of Melbourne artists.

To visit the gardens come to:

LOCATION: Level 3, 96 Flinders St (in between Russell and Exhibition)
WHEN: 27 - 31 March
TIME: Evenings after 6pm - with a special performance on the evening of 29 March
Free drink for early garden visitors

"Book will reveal the secrets of Melbourne’s mysterious Lost Gardens."

Details regarding the recent discovery of a set of mysterious gardens* in the Melbourne CBD are being kept secret by the garden’s finders. The Lost Garden Found research team is keeping the information quiet until the public launch of a book documenting the exciting details of these natural phenomena on 15 March 2006, as part of the Next Wave Festival.

Illustrations of these strange and wonderful gardens are being artfully woven together in a unique printed volume entitled The Lost Garden Sampler. This publication not only graphically catalogues the previously unknown flora and fauna to be found in the gardens, but will also provide the details of their location.

Never before documented, the gardens are rumoured to be full of strange, exotic and previously unexplored delights - blooming shards of light, sounds creeping around the garden like ivy, views to otherworldly landscapes – a place unlike any other, where nothing is as it seems.

“Fragments of urban myths suggested to us that these ‘lost gardens’ have existed for years” a spokesperson from the research team said, “but somehow they have either evaded discovery or been lost to memory.” Now that the gardens have been found, the opportunity to visit them is expected fleeting.

While the research team are private about the details they have released the names of the
talented people who have worked on this project for over a year: Lachlan Conn, Michael
Fikaris, Mark Gomes, Daniel Jenatsch, Kieran Mangan, Ross Manning, Simon MacEwan,
Simon Pericich, Jean Poole, Michael Rigby, Louise Terry and Anna Tweeddale.

The gardens are unlike any other in existence and their accurate and sensitive documentation
is an important work. To launch this exquisite publication, and to potentially even find The Lost Gardens for yourself, come to....

The Lost Garden Sampler – Book Launch

VENUE: St Jeromes
WHEN: Wednesday the 15th of March 2006
TIME: 7 pm

Media Enquires:
Louise Terry
lostgardenfound@gmail.com
0434 978 812