TheGarden of Cosmic Speculation is a 30acre (12hectare)sculpture garden created bylandscape architect and theoristCharles Jencks and his wife, Maggie Keswick Jencks, on Maggie's land and their home together, Portrack House, inDumfriesshire,Scotland. Like much of Jencks' work, the garden is inspired by moderncosmology.
The garden is inspired by science and mathematics, with sculptures and landscaping on these themes, such asblack holes andfractals.[citation needed] The garden is not abundant with plants, but sets mathematical formulae and scientific phenomena in a setting which elegantly combines natural features and artificial symmetry and curves. It is probably unique among gardens, drawing comparisons with a similarly abstract garden in Scotland,Little Sparta.
The garden is private but usually opens for only six hours on two days[1] each year for 1500 ticket holders through theScotland's Gardens programme and raises money forMaggie's Centres, a cancer care charity named forMaggie Keswick Jencks, the late wife of Charles Jencks.[2]
The garden is the subject of an orchestral composition by American composer,Michael Gandolfi, which he composed for a joint commission from theBoston Symphony Orchestra and theTanglewood Music Center. The piece was subsequently recorded by theAtlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted byRobert Spano, and nominated for "Best Contemporary Classical Composition" at the2009 Grammy Awards.
Louise Penny usesThe Garden of Cosmic Speculation as an important plot device in her tenthInspector Gamachemystery,The Long Way Home (St. Martin Press, 2014).[3]
Cameron Jace makes creative use ofThe Garden of Cosmic Speculation in his fictional novel titledCircus, which is the third installment of hisInsanity series. In the book, Jace uses many facts when referring to 'public' knowledge of the garden (per character conversation), but changed the name of the designer to better fit into the story's plot line.
55°07′47″N3°39′57″W / 55.12978°N 3.66583°W /55.12978; -3.66583
 | This article about a sculpture in the United Kingdom is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
.jpg)
