Talks: Environmental History III - LUMA Arles

May 24–26, 2024
Environmental History III

Far From the Garden

For this third edition, LUMA Arles brings together researchers, artists, and landscape architects around a historical approach to ecology.

Starting from the premise that industrial societies have profoundly damaged landscapes and ecosystems, Far From the Garden will explore an important question: What can emerge when the increasing impermeability of soil, massive deforestation, and human disruption stand in deep contradiction with the image of the garden?

According to landscape architect Bas Smets, who transformed the industrial brownfield of the Parc des Ateliers into a vast public park, the development of gardens can be understood as a space that folds in on itself, like a hortus conclusus, the medieval walled garden. This conception of the garden as an enclosed space stands in opposition to the notion of landscape extending beyond strict boundaries.

Today, the idea of a space in extension, rather than fragmented and compartmentalized, allows us to rethink the garden and its role in society. Drawing on diverse fields of research, the third edition of Environmental History, Far From the Garden will seek to challenge conventional ideas about the garden.

Talks and performances from the third edition

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Wasteland with Feda Wardak, Raphaëlle Guidée and Martin Guinard Feda Wardak, Martin Guinard, Raphaëlle Guidée

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

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Far from Afar with Hashim Sarkis Hashim Sarkis

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

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Mireille’s Itinerary with Véronique Mure and Estelle Rouquette Véronique Mure, Estelle Rouquette

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

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In the Vicinity of Environmental History: Reflections on Historiographical Change with Patrick Boucheron Patrick Boucheron

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

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To Be the Wind for the Tree: Generative Poetry Lab with Natalia Fedorova Natalia Fedorova

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

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Out of the garden - Maya Lin Maya Lin

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

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The Garden by the Sea with Tarek El-Ariss Tarek El-Ariss

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

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Book launch of "SPF 666: Gótico Provençal" Diana Campbell, Pierre-Alexandre Mateos / Charles Teyssou

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

Capture d’écran 2026-04-02 à 10.52.09

Homage to Gustav Metzger Hélène Guenin, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Leanne Dmyterko, Benoît Piéron, Vassilis Oikonomopoulos

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

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Introduction by Grégory Quenet Grégory Quenet

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

Capture d’écran 2026-04-02 à 10.58.57

Seeds of the World: Cereal Seeds; From Food Civilizations to GMOs Alessandro Stanziani

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

Capture d’écran 2026-04-02 à 11.00.53

Inhabiting the Spine of the Desert: Nomadic Imaginaries of the Sahara Maïa Tellit Hawad

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

Capture d’écran 2026-04-02 à 11.03.00

Natures of Empire: Colonial Botanical Gardens Hélène Blais

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

Capture d’écran 2026-04-02 à 11.06.04

The Parc des Ateliers as an Experimental Garden Hélène Blais, Bas Smets, Véronique Mure, Martin Guinard

Environmental history III

Social issues , Environment

Capture d’écran 2026-04-02 à 11.09.38

The (Queer) Flourishing of Ten Thousand Things Zairong Xiang

Environmental history III

Social issues , Environment

Capture d’écran 2026-04-02 à 11.11.53

History Takes Place beneath our Feet: Philosophy of Subterranean Worlds Mohamed Amer Meziane

Environmental history III

Environment , Social issues

About the speakers from the third edition

The symposium brought together researchers, artists, and landscape architects, who explored ecological and historical approaches to landscape through a series of talks, discussions, and presentations over two days.

Estelle Rouquette

Doctor of Art History and Archeology

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Hashim Sarkis

Architect, educator, and scholar

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Pierre-Alexandre Mateos / Charles Teyssou

Curators

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Leanne Dmyterko

Curator and Co-Director of the Gustav Metzger Foundation

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Tarek El-Ariss

James Wright Professor and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College

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Raphaëlle Guidée

Lecturer in comparative literature at the University of Poitiers and a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF)

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Zairong Xiang

Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Associate Director of Art at Duke Kunshan University

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Maya Lin

Environmental Artist

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Patrick Boucheron

Professor at the Collège de France

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2022 - Portrait Feda Wardak, par Maï[79]

Feda Wardak

Artist, architect, and researcher

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Hélène Guenin

Director of the Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain (MAMAC) in Nice

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Mohamed Amer Meziane

Philosopher and Assistant Professor at the Center for Middle East Studies at Brown University

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Portrait Hans Ulrich Obrist - Small

Hans Ulrich Obrist

Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London, and Senior Advisor at LUMA Arles

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Natalia Fedorova

Artist, curator, researcher, and educator in the field of contemporary art and literature

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Véronique Mure

Botanist and Tropical Agronomy Engineer

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Maïa Tellit Hawad

Researcher

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Diana Campbell

Curator

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Benoît Piéron

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Hélène Blais

Professor of Contemporary History at the École Normale Supérieure-PSL and a member of the Institut d’histoire moderne et contemporaine

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Alessandro Stanziani

professor at the EHESS (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales) and a senior researcher at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifiques)

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Explore other editions of Environmental History

JOANA LUZ_20190605_LUMA_PERFORMANCE KILUANJI_DSF2312Joana Luz

Environmental History I

2022

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Environmental History II

2023

EH_2025_1920_1280

Environmental History IV

2025