Grand-Métis, Canada, 2025-07-15 -  The 26^th edition of the International Garden Festival, titled Borders, is now open to the public. Ève De Garie-Lamanque, Artistic Director, has invited designers to rethink the notion of border in today’s postcolonial context and to transpose these reflections into a garden environment that blurs disciplines, renegotiates preconceived ideas about garden/landscape, and actively dialogues with visitors.

Out of the 180 projects (27 countries) submitted to the international call for proposals, 4 were selected: BACK / GROUND (Patrick Bérubé | Québec, Canada); Peek-a-Boo (Hermine Demaël, Stephen Zimmerer | Québec, Canada + United States); Scars of Conflict (Michael Hyttel Thorø | Denmark); and You Shall (Not) Pass (Simon Barrette | Québec, Canada). This year’s edition, which will run until October 5, showcases 28 contemporary gardens.

Theme | Borders
The notions of boundary and border, which overlap, yet are not equivalent, inevitably raise issues connected with geography and geopolitics. In the strict sense, they designate markers or lines that circumscribe a territory; they delineate one area and distinguish it from another. As such, they occupy an important place in the modern and Western comprehension of the world: modern borders – known as Westphalian, as they were negotiated during inter-state conferences according to the model that led to the Peace of Westphalia (1648) – map out spaces and nation-states, articulate them, and relate them to each other. The tangible vestiges of imperial undertakings or national movements, they are based on identitarian ideologies of inclusion and exclusion.

A non-place, or liminal space par excellence, a border may be understood as a spatial object in mutation. It partitions a whole – or, rather, determines a “segment of reality”, granting it intrinsic value. Tangible, though not necessarily visible or embodied, borders or boundaries mark distinct forms of state, nature, and materiality. They disrupt continuity. They “separate” digital from analogue, inside from outside, the garden from the expanse, landscape from geography. Some are fixed, rigid, or relatively hermetic; others may be porous, ambiguous, or multiple. Constantly renegotiated, borders also act as transition points, places of encounter and exchange.

Visual Identity | Borders
The visual identity for the 26^th edition of the International Garden Festival was designed by bureau60a, an independent design firm. This year’s theme, Borders, proved to be particularly rich for Simon Guibord (Gatineau) and Rachel Monnier (Percé). On the one hand, they drew inspiration from cartographic sciences, particularly the graphic language of cartographers (lines, dots, spots, symbols). On the other, they adopted a biocentric approach: What does a border – or boundaries – mean in the context of a garden? How do human, climatic, or geographical factors influence the migration of plants? Meaningful, poetic, and activist in spirit, bureau60a’s graphic proposal beautifully captures the notion of border as we have chosen to interpret it — as a constantly renegotiated entity, a social construct, and a space for dialogue.

Our Partners
The International Garden Festival acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the RBC Foundation, Fondation Ariane Riou et Réal Plourde, National Trust Canada, Canada Summer Jobs, Emploi-Québec, and the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec.

The Festival's main partner this year, Promutuel Assurance, is the benefactor of the Peek-a-Boo garden. You Shall (Not) Pass was sponsored by the Ordre des arpenteurs-géomètres du Québec.