"The Poetry Garden" by Siah Armajani Author(S): Lisa Lyons Source: Design Quarterly, No

"The Poetry Garden" by Siah Armajani Author(s): Lisa Lyons Source: Design Quarterly, No. 160, "The Poetry Garden" by Siah Armajani (1994), pp. 8-30 Published by: Walker Art Center Ot 0.7 -.ZL Z'--t-'t -10 V UN6 ... ...... ... ... .. ..... ..... .. ....... ........ ...... ......... .. ... .. ... ....... ......... Rj mc The Poetry Gardenby Siah Armajani Lisa Lyons In April 1989 Lannan Foundation moved into its new headquarters. Reno- vation of the modernist structure designed in 1968 by Los Angeles architect William Krisel for Feuer Corporation, an air systems assembly company, was far from complete. The offices were habitable, but it would Rene Magritte be more than a year before La chambre d 'e.oute 1952 The Menil Collection, Houston the rest of the interior including the foundation's Thereis anotherworld inside this one exhibition galleries, art Mulling over this plan, I no words,can describeit. storage spaces and libraries conjured up a granite plaza would be finished. with a bit of greenery Thereis living, but nofear of death; Landscaping of the site around the perimeter and Thereis Spring, but nevera turn to Autumn. had yet to begin, and a then mentally craned a sin- courtyard on the east side gle monumental sculpture Thereare legendsand stories of the property was still into the space. There it comingfromthe walls and ceilings. undeveloped.2 stood, straining against the courtyard walls, bringing to Even the rocksand treesrecite poetry. On early renovation plans, mind that Magritte paint- the roughly 50 x 70-foot ing in which an apple has courtyard was labeled grown to fill an entire from A WorldInside This World, "Sculpture Garden," but by the 13th-centtury room. meant Sufi poetJallaltuddiri Ruini ' precisely what that had not been defined There was something per- when we settled into the versely appealing about offices. Feeling that we this surrealistic tableau, but needed to study the space, the novelty of such an we spruced up the dusty installation would quickly lot with a patch of sod sur- wear thin. And in any case, rounded by a path of we were heading into decomposed granite. In summer and each day as the weeks to follow we the sun rose in the sky, the spent a lot of time peering temperature within the out the office windows into courtyard rose as well. the "garden," and pacing Surely trees were needed around and across the for shade; but an arbor lawn, talking about how it large enough to significant- could best be used. ly lower the temperature and blinding mid-day light We contemplated various level in the courtyard scenarios. The space could would leave little room for be an outdoor gallery for sculptures, not to mention exhibitions of large-scale the seating and ancillary sculptures. To provide plantings necessary to cre- maximum flexibility, the ate an inviting garden. courtyard would have to be The space was simply too as open as possible. small. 9 Lannan Foundation We peered, we paced, we tures look like meteors that or a burrito or to grab a Poetry Association for thought some more. We have landed plop! from Snickers bar to be eaten more than 30 years. wondered: did the world outer space onto stark, De back at a desk. Through the grant pro- need another sculpture Chiricoesque plazas. grams that have been insti- We began to think about garden? I like art, I like the tuted since Mr. Lannan's Perhaps the world didn't the courtyard as a kind of outdoors, but I have to death, the foundation now need another sculpture vest-pocket park, a lunch admit that I've always supports not only muse- garden after all, but a gar- and coffee-break haven for found art and the outdoors ums, university galleries den of some kind still our nine-to-five neighbors, to be a tricky combination. and alternative spaces, but seemed like a good idea, and a place for our gallery The examples of successful also writers and literary especially given the foun- visitors to contemplate sculpture gardens are few, organizations. dation's location in an the exhibitions or to read and the best of these are industrial office park a catalogue or brochure. A new plan blossomed: not modestly scaled sites between Marina del Rey A place to sit and talk and Lannan would commission like the Lannan courtyard, and Los Angeles Inter- read. an artist to design a garden but expansive parks. The national Airport. A subur- that embodied the founda- worst of them ... well, the Reading. That was the key. ban neighborhood of non- tion's commitment to both worst of them seem to fall Although best known as a descript warehouses and art and literature. The into two categories: there visual arts organization, by boxy, tilt-up structures Poetry Garden, as we began are those in which the 1989 Lannan Foundation occupied by a variety of to call it, would serve as a sculptures look like captive had begun to develop a businesses, the area is retreat for our gallery visi- specimens that have been reputation for its sponsor- pleasant enough. When we tors and neighbors, and it forcibly removed from ship of contemporary liter- moved into the building, would be the site of literary their natural habitats and ature as well. In fact, litera- however, there were few events as well. set into artificial environ- ture had always been a pas- public amenities-no ments imbued with all the sion of the late J. Patrick The choice of an artist to green spaces and no restau- terminally cute charms of a Lannan, who established design such a space rants, save the "roach petting zoo; and there are the foundation in 1960. seemed obvious. As one of coaches," rolling kitchens those in which the sculp- In addition to assembling the most highly regarded like Steve's Stove that pull an extensive collection creators and theorists of up throughout the day on of contemporary art that public art in America, and I Published in Jonathan Star and street corners and parking Shahram Shiva, A GardenBeyond Paradise: was to become the basis as a man with a deep and lots, attracting a loyal clien- The MysticalPoetry of Rumi (New York: of our exhibition program abiding interest in litera- Bantam Books, 1992), p 144. tele of hungry workers who 2 The master plan for the building reno- in Los Angeles, he was a ture, Siah Armajani was vation was developed by Miami, Florida queue up to order a burger architect Mark Hampton in consultation major benefactor of Poetry uniquely qualified for the with William Krisel. The courtyard was magazine and chairman of job. created by erecting tall walls around a the board of The Modern parking lot abutting the building. * *0 10 Siah Armajani is a pioneer is a modest man who shuns man, he had studied at a recalls. "I was seven or among those contempo- the spotlight and who Presbyterian missionary eight years old, and he rary artists who have devot- firmly believes that " . in school where most of the gave me a gigantic number ed themselves almost exclu- public art, there is no teachers were American, 12 brush and a well of ink sively to undertaking pro- room for focus on the ego. and he developed an admi- and told me to draw minia- jects in public spaces. You have to get lost in the ration for the United States tures, which was, of course, Indeed, in his work of the context of the work."5 that he passed on to his impossible. Then he told past two decades, he has children.6 me that I had absolutely no A populist in outlook and helped to redefine the very talent whatsoever and that practice, given his druthers Although his family prac- concept of public art. he had agreed to take me at lunchtime Armajani will ticed Christianity, and Armajani has little interest on only out of respect for often opt for McDonald's, Armajani and his siblings in producing monumental my father." declaring the fast-food fare sculptures; rather, he cre- were steeped in Western to be, to use his favorite ates works that he describes ways at the local missionary In high school Armajani expression of as "low, common and near enthusiasm, school, they were also developed an interest in "fantastic, honest!" to the people."3 Among his That's involved in the traditional politics, and like many of not to say that projects are a lecture hall Armajani is Islamic culture of Iran.7 his fellow students he was an in Philadelphia, a band- unsophisticated man or Armajani recalls his family ardently opposed to the is in any way stand in Mitchell, South lacking in home as a comfortable, Shah and his corrupt social graces. A Dakota, pedestrian bridges charming book-filled environment regime. His political beliefs individual, in Minneapolis and who projects a where his father read were also shaped by read- kind of old-world Stuttgart, and a waterfront civility, Persian poems-particular- ing Western philosophy, he is a warm promenade in lower and generous ly those of the great Sufi particularly the writings of host, no doubt a reflection Manhattan. "I am interest- mystics-to the children the great thinkers of the of his upbringing in Iran ed in the nobility of useful- every evening. "Poets are German school, Hegel, where the ness," he has said. "My rituals of hospi- venerated in Persian cul- Nietzsche and Heidegger. tality have been developed ture," Armajani told me intention is to build open, In 1960 into something of an art recently. "Let's say two men Armajani's family available, useful, common, sent him to form.

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