“You shall not pass!” To fans of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy, the line instantly conjures an image of the wizard Gandalf, heroically holding the Balrog demon at bay on the Bridge of Khazad-Dúm in 2001’s The Fellowship of the Ring. Although the exact line never appears in Tolkien’s source material, it’s become an indelible part of the fandom, with images of Ian Mckellan’s face now embedded into the marrow of pop culture through myriad memes. In Quebec, it’s even embedded into the landscape, via a recently installed folly of (almost) the same name.
Designed by Montreal-based architect Simon Barrette, You Shall (Not) Pass is one of four new landscapes introduced to Reford Gardens as part of the 2025 . On display until October 5, the annual 26th edition is with the selected installations selected via an open call that invited “designers from all horizons to rethink the notion of borders in today’s post-colonial context, and to transpose their reflections into a garden-environment that blurs disciplines, renegotiates preconceived ideas about the garden/landscape, and actively dialogues with the visitor.” The result is an appropriately eclectic set of new experiences.
You Shall (Not) Pass
While the name of Barrette’s is a playful nod to cinematic lore, the installation explores deeper questions of what constitutes or a barrier — or an invitation. “Composed of thousands of surveying markers strung onto steel wire – of the type used by surveyors to physically mark the edges of a property – the oversized bead curtain hangs in the middle of the forest,” notes the Reford Gardens website. “The monolithic installation cleaves the landscape, conjuring up the very archetype of a border.”
Scars of Conflict
Danish landscape architect Michael Hyttel Thorø’s striking yet unsettling landscape is inspired by the physical and psychological devastation of the First World War. Evoking the European meadow landscapes pock-marked by intense artillery, the effect is at once unsettling and oddly beautiful, conveying a sense of resilience and healing in the scarred places.
Back / Ground
A commentary on the nature of private property (and the borders it imposes), Montreal designer Patrick Bérubé’s installation comprises a trio of forms, each resembling the form of a peak-roof house. Within each of the three volumes, an element of nature — whether timber or plant life — is presented within the controlled context of human habitat. “What emerges is a vision of the world in which nature is not simply a background but a living environment of which human beings are an integral part and from which they can dissociate themselves only through artifice or delusion,” notes the festival’s website.
Peek-a-Boo
A porous border between earth and sky, the interdisciplinary collaboration between architect Hermine Demaël and landscape architect Stephen Zimmerer — both of whom teach at Syracuse University — invites play and exploration. 13 trap doors in the powder-coated steel grate make for a changing landscape, where openness and access is always being renegotiated. From below, plant life reaches up — and through — the metal.
The International Garden Festival is taking place at Reford Gardens until October 5, 2025.
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