Installation artists require an interactive atmosphere to effectively utilise and express their art works to their audience. Over the years, in the art world, choice of materials, site specificity and audience experience have become paramount considerations for installation artists to gain the correct response from viewers. Artists such as Janet Lawrence, Kurt Schwitters, Andy Goldsworthy use such mechanisms which in turn make their works so well recognised.
Janet Lawrence is an artist who demonstrates that choices of materials, site and audience experience contribute to the recognition and appeal of an artwork. WAITING – A Medicinal Garden for Ailing Plants (2010) was Lawrence’s piece for 2010 Sydney Biennale. Lawrence’s practice often involves the scrutiny of natural and built environments. Therefore, Janet Lawrence utilises site specificity to explore themes of “nature, science, history, transformation and memory”. Lawrence’s Biennale piece parallels the theme of a medicinal garden . Within this piece she aims to promote recognition of endangered environments. The heading itself presents a sense of irony. A “medicinal garden” for “ailing plants” this emphasises that the site itself is significant to the cause outlining the importance of materials chosen- in this case the natural plant life. The mirrored stainless Steele and glass gives a real life effect to the piece symbolising the importance of the message Lawrence is aiming to promote. The structure is built in the form of a sanatorium with glasshouses often found in botanic gardens. In deeper investigation, it can be seen Lawrence has constructed a recovery refuge for delicate and rare plant life. Ultimately, it can be seen that Janet Lawrence’s WAITING – A Medicinal Garden