Acknowledgments (1995-2000)

The Living Garden emerged from a difficult year whilst studying on the Royal College of Art (RCA) MA Interactive Multimedia course over 1994-1995. An analysis of the process of attempting to develop this work - both as an idea and as an installation - On the Aesthetics of Gravel - can be found within this site by clicking here.

I should say, however, that both the Living Garden installation that was constructed for the RCA final show, and the thoughts which emerged about the project, were significantly shaped by the efforts of others including both Patrick Power and Peter Robinson.

Peter shot a number of the images which appear in this site and which were used in the small print run of the (real) booklet I distributed about the Garden. These images have recently been supplemented by video-stills from the show which - five years after the event - I finally thought I should get around to digitising. My thanks go to Patrick and Peter, both for helping to keep the Garden moving along a path - balanced between the literal on the one-hand and the metaphorical on the other - and for the support, fun and beer we shared together.

I should also say how important was the contribution of Jonathan Attenborough (and his colleagues) from the RCA's industrial design course. They not only managed to make the tools that appeared within the garden as part of the final degree show actually work, but also to look fantastic and fun as well. I have lost touch with Jonathan (last seen heading for animation work in Hollywood), and his friends, but would love to hear from them again.

Since 1995 this site has, until recently, been left somewhat fallow and unattended. This is not least because I found myself working within commercial new media. A world which can sometimes - it seems to me - be infinitely more fanciful than anything I ever dreamt up within these pages. Alongside work, the birth of my two happy sons, Alex (1996) and Tom (in 1999) has also provided a welcome, albeit fairly all-consuming, distraction to this project.

The fresh look of this site (February 2000) resulted from a chance encounter with the fine artist
Zev Robinson - no relation to Peter Robinson. Zev, despite a bout of severe illness, followed by a rush of new painting commissions and the demands of his well-know commercial multimedia work, is responsible for the current re-design and new look-and-feel of this site and has breathed fresh life into these pages.

As well as being indebted to Zev, I hope - with help from him and others - to make additional enhancements to these pages on a somewhat more frequent basis than five-yearly! Zev has also partially dissuaded me from my year-zero views that this site should be virtually plug-in free. I hope - in terms of demonstrating the creation of a Living Book - to experiment at some point in the future with the use of Flash and similar to see if we can mimic the mechanics of a real Garden more interactively within these pages.

The new cgi-based Visitor's Book (courtesy of the fantastic sounding Big Nose Bird site) is my own first attempt along this road.

Note on re-use of this site

Contents from this site may be freely copied for non-profit making purposes only and on the basis that any material reproduced is attributed to Nick Wray, and that all or part of any text or images reproduced include references to the source "The Living Garden" and the full-address of this web-site: http://www.livinggarden.net.

Nick Wray - February 2000

Nick Wray asserts the right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.