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| Image courtesy of Desert Botanical Garden |
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| Chihuly glass "cactus" at the entrance to DBG |
On this, my second trip to the
Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) in Scottsdale, I was expecting something WAY out of the ordinary - and I surely was not disappointed. The garden is always fantastic - 55 acres of carefully planned and beautifully maintained plantings that bring together the best of the southwest. The succulents, cacti and exotics that thrive in the relentless sun of desert climates are combined into an art form here. If you think deserts are nothing but sand and scrub, the DBG will change your perspective forever. It's the place that made me appreciate the stark beauty of a single cactus against a rainbow sunset.
But tonight was special. We had come to see
Electric Desert. The
Klip Collective, a group of video and sound artists from Philadelphia put together their first garden "show",
Nightscape, at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania - that alone was enough to make me want to see what they had done at DBG. I had visited Longwood a number of times for my books on Pennsylvania (the original editions of Pennsylvania Handbook, Moon Travel/Avalon Publishing). As DBG is to the desert, Longwood is to the lush deciduous greenery of the mid-Atlantic. I was prepared to be impressed, and it was magical.
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| Image courtesy of DBG |
Bands of light played across saguaro cactus and tall trees, swirling into patterns and colors, accompanied by a tinkling, thrumming trance-inducing sound track.
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| Image courtesy of DBG |
The path that winds through the garden opened into different "rooms", each with its own unique style of color and lighting. Still photos, though beautiful, don't capture the sounds and movement of the installation. To get a glimpse of the DBG installation, check out
this video.
The
coup-de-grace was the mountain behind the gardens, lit with dancing patterns; lights shot upward like towers set in the mountain itself, making it look as though the entire mountain was about to lift off...I don't know how they did it, but it was mesmerizing, beyond fantastic. Check out the video
here. And since you've been especially good, and because Klip is generously making their work available for everyone to see on Vimeo, here's
another video of DBG from them. If you have a chance, see it in person on a warm summer night in Scottsdale, or follow Klip Collective to their next triumph.
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| Image courtesy of DBG |
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