Edward Clydesdale Thomson Bio
CALM BEFORE THE STORM Radius, Delft, The Netherlands 2022
Where Shall We Plant the Placenta? A Tail of a Tub, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2022
spellbound CBK Zeeland, Middelburg, The Netherlands 2022
rivier, boot, stad Dordrecht’s Museum, Dordrecht, The Netherlands ongoing
bound to the miraculous online ongoing
Grazer Kunstverein is moving Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria ongoing
Microplastics Rain Down from the Sky Division of Labour, Art Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2020
Buffer zones Paradise Works, Manchester, UK 2019
landfall O&O funding, CBK, Rotterdam 2019
An exhibition of posters Witte de With, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2018
wild care tame neglect - exhibition Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2018
below the soil, between the branches, above the clouds Into Nature, biennial, Drenthe 2018
how to kill a tree Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam 2018
Tuin van Toorop Jan Tooropstraat, Amsterdam 2018
noon Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland 2017
the necessity of art Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, Austria 2017
wilder beings command Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland 2017
wild care tame neglect Frankendael Foundation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2016
poster club Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2017
The Society Machine Malmo Konstmuseum, Malmo 2016
Static Gravity Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam 2016
Crossing Borders Expanding Frontiers ramfoundation, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2016
As the lake said to the boat Kunsthuis SYB, Beetsterzwaag, The Netherlands 2015
Nothin Shakin but the Leaves on the Trees Marabouparken konsthall, Sunsbyberg, Sweden 2015
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain CCA Derry~Londonderry, Lismore Castle Arts St Carthage Hall 2015
Belief and Productivity O&O funding, CBK, Rotterdam 2014
The Non Urban Garden: tuinen van de 21e eeuw Afdh & Kunstvereniging Diepenheim 2014
The Non Urban Garden: tuinen van de 21e eeuw
Documentation, ‘Garden Fence’, powder coated steel, 6.6m by 3.9m, 2014
The Non Urban Garden: tuinen van de 21e eeuw
Documentation, ‘Garden Fence’, powder coated steel, 6.6m by 3.9m, 2014
The Non Urban Garden: tuinen van de 21e eeuw
Documentation, ‘Garden Fence’, powder coated steel, 6.6m by 3.9m, 2014
The Non Urban Garden: tuinen van de 21e eeuw
Documentation, ‘Garden Fence’, powder coated steel, 6.6m by 3.9m, 2014
The Non Urban Garden: tuinen van de 21e eeuw
Documentation, ‘Garden Fence’, powder coated steel, 6.6m by 3.9m, 2014
The Non Urban Garden: tuinen van de 21e eeuw
Book cover, ‘The Non Urban Garden- Tuinen van de 21e eeuw’, 128 pages, bound in cloth, full colour, Nederlands en Engels, Afdh Uitgevers, 2014

For The Non-Urban Garden, Scottish-Danish artist Edward Clydesdale Thomson carefully observed the landscape around Diepenheim. At the same time, he started writing a comprehensive essay on the history, cultural significance and aesthetic value of the garden, the landscape and ‘nature’ in relation to the concepts of time, memory and location.

According to Thomson, the way we create gardens reflects how we inhabit the world, how we distinguish ourselves and how society takes shape. In his view, gardens are a reflection of an ideal and, even more importantly, they also contribute to creating that ideal. Thomson takes as key examples of this the English landscape garden and the French formal garden, both of which can be viewed as symbols of the ruling ideologies of the eighteenth century. Alongside a historical exploration of the garden as a cultural construct, Thomson elaborates on the disputed notion of enclosure, which seems inherent in the process of occupying land. The demarcation of land is associated with protection against harmful external influences and provides a sense of security, but it also draws attention to fencing, to territory and to private property. It is precisely out of this thinking that the walled garden emerges as an important conceptual angle for Thomson’s artistic research.

Thomson’s text that is published here is both the starting point for a garden and a tool for ongoing reflection on his working process. There is a continuous interchange between thinking and making, between the incorporation of ideas both in writing and in physical form. The essay bears witness to theoretical considerations and subjective associations gradually developed during several phases of research, which eventually lead to a proposal for an artwork: the fencing of the village of Diepenheim.

text, Marlies van Hak

The Non Urban Garden website

The book (written in Dutch) is the result of an artistic research project initiated by two curators, Peter Sonderen and Joop Hoogeveen, in which four artists (Jeroen Kooijmans, Edward Clydesdale Thomson, Doris Denekamp/Jimini Hignett and Birthe Leemeijer) react in word and image to the question: What does the garden of the 21st century look like, and can you make a design? The book shows their finished designs in public space and their texts on the subject (by Marlies van Hak). In addition the book has (new) essays on the garden by the internationally renowned garden designer Piet Oudolf (High Line in New York), the Flemish philosopher and gardener Ann Meskens, Artis-professor of Culture, Landscape and Nature Erik de Jong and Delft university landscape architect Saskia de Wit. Peter Sonderen, professor of Theory in Art, wrote the introduction and the afterword that explain the artistic research context.

Buy the book here.

Download Where Exactly is a Garden ESSAY in PDF.

Download The Non Urban Garden Brief in PDF.

Download Expertmeeting 2014 in PDF.

Download Preview artist contrabution & essay in PDF.

Download Proposal Phase One ECT in PDF.

iaspis Open House, spring 2014 iaspis, Stockholm 2014
The Distracted Gardener & The Plumbing Subverter Yeo Workshop, Singapore 2013
Late Nights & Early Mornings Kunstraum, London 2013
25 Years Rotterdam City Collection Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam 2013
here is always somewhere else Forum Triangulare, Oud-Rekem, Belgium 2013
Abilities Jeanine Hofland Contemporary Art, Amsterdam 2013
Lost & Found at the Flügelbus Lost & Found, Amsterdam 2013
causa finalis Galerie Fons Welters, Amsterdam 2012
As if an entrance is over there- Lecturis, Eindhoven 2012
Rijksakademie Open 2012 Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdamm 2012
The research and destroy department of the Black Mountain College W139, Amsterdam 2012
We are rolling galerie-j, Geneva 2012
There was a Country where They were all Thieves Jeanine Hofland Contemporary Art, Amsterdam 2012
Secret Gardens TENT, Rotterda, 2012
FlowerCASTLE Kasteel Keukenhof Art Foundation, Lisse 2011
Rijksakademie Open 2011 Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam 2011
a green thought, in a green shade Art Amsterdam MK Gallery 2011
Prix de Rome 2011 Smart project space, Amsterdam 2011
Borderline Picturesque & the Recounting Prospect Tromsø Kunstforening, Tromsø, Norway 2010
New Graffiti, Old Revolutions MK gallery, Rotterdam 2010
A group show Croxhapox, Ghent 2010
Done to a dead end & the dead or alive sale SD&G, Rotterdam 2010
Edward Clydesdale Thomson SECONDroom, Brussels 2009
A Leopard, Some Monkeys, Numerous Butterflies, Dozens of Peacocks and a Sublime Vista 4th Issue NOWISWERE, Contemporary Art Magazine, London 2009
Open Office for Words ADA, Rotterdam 2009
Imaginary Cinema - Discussion WDW 653, Rotterdam 2009
Residency at Het Wilde Weten, Rotterdam WDW 653, Rotterdam 2009
Impromptu Affairs DEK 22, Rotterdam 2009
Selbstzweck Private Collection 2008
Residency at Kysten Tromsø Kysten Tromsø 2008
Small Talk with the Janitor Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam 2008
My Travels with Barry, MA Graduation Show Tent, Rotterdamt 2008
Just what is it that makes that thing so different, so appealing? Expodium, Utrecht 2008
Observing Construction NEST, Netherlands Architectuurinstituut (NAi) Rotterdam 2007
This is how it must feel to be there Pakhuismeesteren, Rotterdam 2007