The meanings of temporal and spatial dimensions of the garden

Abstract

When dealing with the art of gardening, people often have been inclined to think about gardens in terms of Nature vs Culture. The purpose of our paper is to analyze the temporal and spatial dimensions of the garden from a semiotical point of view, the relationship Time versus Space, a space experienced through multiple meanings in an ever-changing reality. Having in view that more than any other forms of art (painting, sculpture, architecture) the art of gardening aims to “incarnate/embody” the time, a dreamed time, which has been imagined as eternal, the garden may be considered a “temporized spatial entity” or a “spatialized time”. The apprehension that an event or phenomenon takes place somewhere in the world, every moment, leads us to think about the meaningful content of different elements related to space and spatiality versus time and temporality. Experience of the nature forms the bottom layer of any experience in the environment. Conscious and subconscious factors of our memory, knowledge and imagination play an important role in this experience. Human beings relate with the environment by means of different signs – indexes, icons and symbols (basic triad according to Charles S. Peirce) which can be used on different layers of space experience, while semiosis acts as a connecting link between the body, environment, spirit and culture, creating different meanings.