18: where have all the grottos gone?

An aura of expectation surrounds the grotto. It is a relatively immutable element in the ephemeral world of the garden-- a place of repose and reunion, or of solitude, seclusion, and shade; a site of technological assemblages; a theatrical museum; a sanctuary of muses, a locus of enlightenment and poetic inspiration; a harbor for the fantastical; a passage way to a new reality. Grottoes were (and perhaps still are) invitations to expect the unexpected.

Architectural remains and a wealth of literary sources demonstrate the prevalence of grottoes throughout antiquity and the revival and transformation of the architectural motif within the Renaissance. Over time, 17th century grottoes, with their elaborate grotesque features and technologically fantastic gestures, were supplanted by an eighteenth-century enthusiasm for the grotto as a part of a deeper romanticism-- a nostalgia for antiquity and a desire to bring forth the innate or natural "genius of the place". In 1876-7 King Ludwig II constructed a grotto folly at Neuschwanstein castle. Composed of cast-iron stalactites and coated with cement, the artificial grotto was a private realm replete with winding stalactite path, crystal clear lake, and royal platform designed in the form of a shell.

How then, does the enchantment of the grotto resolve itself within a twenty first century perspective. If we dismiss the form of the cave, the waterworks, the mirrors and shells of antiquity--do we dismiss the aura as well? Or, can the aura be achieved through other means, other forms, other interactions. Can technology be a mode of working that re-introduces the metamorphic tradition of the grotto grotesque?


Image credit: from the film Being John Malkovich (1999). Craig Schwartz (John Cusak) stepping out of the elevator on the seven-and-a-halfth floor.

A puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of the movie star, John Malkovich.

"The recurring journey within the narrative--from elevator, to tunnel in the wall, to Malkovich's mind, to a stretch of grass beside the Jersey Turnpike-- affirms that technology can serve as a non-standard but still effective gateway to the soul".

1. Miller, Naomi. Heavenly Caves. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1982. 7, 115.
2. Garfinkel, Susan. "Elevator Stories: Vertical Imagination and the Spaces of Possibility." Up Down Across: Elevators, Escalators, and Moving Sidewalks. Ed. Alisa Goetz. London: Merrell Ltd., 2003. 175.