MAPPING THE LAKE IN THE GREAT GARDEN

Data vizualization of the ecology of Lake Michigan

Situated at the edge of Lake Michigan, Lincoln Park sits in a densely populated neighborhood on Chicago's near northside. Host to the Lincoln Park Conservatory, the Great Garden is laid out with 12 flower beds, replanted every spring.

The design for the 2004 annual planting of the Lincoln Park Conservatory Great Garden was conceived by artist, Frances Whitehead and commissioned for the “Art in the Gardens” program by the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

Whitehead's design scheme explores and updates Leo Marx’s concept of The Machine in the Garden as a key metaphor for human activity and our relation to the natural world.

The data are translated into bloom and foliage using the VIBGYOR spectrum palette.

The massive flower beds which use 50,000 plants, are carpet-bedded, a garden technique that uses the color of the plant to create a flat pattern like a carpet. Here the patterning is used to “data-map” the ecology of Lake Michigan. Each quadrant of this Victorian, four-part symmetrical plan represents one of four groups of digitally generated data about the lake: physical characteristics, biota, water quality, and water use. The graphic renderings include conventional forms of data representation such as bar graphs and pie charts, as well as special lake-shaped maps generated to show spatial data using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) mapping. These charts and maps are translated into bloom and foliage using the VIBGYOR (violet, indigo, blue...) palette of the spectrum. Like the white surround of a paper map, these images are set against a pale background created by rich mixtures of low-growing, floral ground-covers.

The garden signage and printed guide are also products of digital technology; they interpret the data for the viewer and literally place the digital machine in the garden.