This is not your Garden
Carlos Velandia and Angélica Restrepo
Rooted in the disappearing wetlands, páramos, and centennial forests of Bogotá, Colombia, ESTE NO ES TU JARDÍN (THIS IS NOT YOUR GARDEN) is a theatrical and fulldome animation that fractures 500 years of colonial violence, industrial exploitation, and ecological collapse.
Using 3D scans from surviving specimens and procedural particle systems in the Unity videogame engine, the work reconstructs ecosystems on the brink of extinction and reimagines a future where plants reclaim agency. What can digitality do for conservation of endangered species in a time where hopes of survival seem to be already lost? Millions of particles —from real endangered specimens like the Espeletia grandiflora and Quercus humboldtii— evoke key landmarks of deforestation made by every ruling human power since the late XV century. Silenced histories rise beyond human-centered narratives through a meditative sequence shot and glimpses of the scanning process, while deep listening-inspired field recordings and synthesized dissonance mirror ecological rupture.
This piece adopts the stand of a kino-botanical report, in a middle ground between experimental 3D animation, scientific imaging and back-end computational processes. It was developed through interdisciplinary collaboration with local wildlife guardians, biologists, and Colombian cultural-environmental institutions like the Ministry of Cultures Arts and Knowledges’ and IDARTES’ strategic lines for art, science and technology. The project is based on research by Alexander von Humboldt Institut, Acueducto de Bogotá, Secretaría de ambiente de Bogotá, Corporación Autónoma Regional de Cundinamarca -Dirección de recursos naturales- Grupo de biodiversidad.
Project Collaborators:
Artists: Carlos Velandia, Angélica Restrepo Funding Institutions: IDARTES Art Science & Technology Strategic Branch (Bogotá, Colombia), Colombian Ministry of Cultures, Arts & Knowledges. Based on research by: Alexander von Humboldt Institut, Acueducto de Bogotá, Secretaría de ambiente de Bogotá, Corporación Autónoma Regional de Cundinamarca -Dirección de recursos naturales- Grupo de biodiversidad.
