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P U B L I C  D I S P L A Y  O F  A F F E C T I O NKALLI NIEDOBAUNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA , SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PDAbyKalli Anne NiedobaIn presenting this report in partial fulfillment of the requirements for theMaster of Landscape Architecture, University of British Columbia, I agree that UBC may make this work freely available for reference or study. I give permission for copying the report for educational purposes in accordance with copyright laws.Landscape ArchitectureSchool of Architecture and Landscape ArchitectureUniversity of British ColumbiaName: Kalli Anne NiedobaGraduate Project Title: PDAPDAUNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIAMay 9, 2020Instructor Daniel Roehr Project Supervisor Susan Herrington OPDAiiLandscape Architecture has reacted to the pigeon-holing of its scope centered on contained parks and gardens, by expand-ing into other domains such as landscape urbanism, green infrastructure, and large scale climate adaptation. While these efforts are extremely important, this project takes a different position as it returns to the garden, and a globally significant flower species; the rose. PDA (Public Display of Affection) is a project that takes place at the University of British Columbia Rose Garden. As a typological case study, it co-opts the monofunctional and monocultural condition of the rose garden as an experimentation ground for the University’s Public Art Strategy. Framed conceptu-ally by theory surrounding Affective Ecology, and guided by Donna Haraway’s writings in Staying with the trouble: mak-ing kin in the Chthulucene, this project is an interpretive exer-cise that seeks to arouse the existing condition of the garden through embedding and extending invitations within the site to renegotiate terms of behaviour, and expand the potentialities of experience and encounter between human and non-human organisms.  ABSTRACT OiiiCONTENTSii   ABSTRACTiv   LIST OF FIGURESvii   ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS1   STATEMENT OF INTEREST   DISCUSSION   I LOVE YOU4   FIRST IMPRESSION, EVERLASTING   THANK YOU8   THE PLEASURE IS MINE   CONGRATULATIONS12   EXPERT LEVEL INFATUATION   I’M SORRY20   PRICE IS RIGHT LOSING HORN23   PROJECT SCHEDULE26   PDA29   SCENARIO I34   SCENARIO II38   SCENARIO III42   WORKS CITED PDAivPDALIST OF FIGURESpage listing 1   Figure 1. David Austin Roses. David Austin Junior smelling the fragrance of the cut rose Keira in the rose    breeding test house. 2000. David Austin Roses, United Kingdom.  www.davidaustin.com/uk/about-us/.    Accessed December 2018.2    Figure 2. Niedoba, Kalli. UBC Rose Garden, 2020. Vancouver, British Columbia.   5   Figure 3. Niedoba, Kalli. Map adapted from Allen Paterson’s The History of The Rose 1983. 6   Figure 4. Niedoba, Kalli. Tour of Royal FloraHolland, 2018. Aalsmeer, NL. 9   Figure 5. Cassiebear. Woman leaves rose petal trail for gas man. 2013. imgur.com/a/gnaAO10   Figure 6. Patterson, Mary L. Northeast Mississippi Rose Show. 2013.    beautifulgardener.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/northeast-mississippi-rose-show/13   Figure 7. Illustration of stages of rose cultivation. Kalli Niedoba. 14-17   Figure 8. Compilation of rose gardens in North America from Google Earth. Kalli Niedoba. 18   Figure 9. Dumping roses at Nini Flowers, a farm in Naivasha, Kenya. 2020.    Source: Jidovanu, Natalia. Dumping roses at Nini Flowers, a farm in Naivasha, Kenya. 2020. Bloomberg.  	 	 www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-flower-industry-crash/21   Figure 10. Google Earth image of UBC Rose Garden in 2019, reflecting human circulation and gathering. 21   Figure 11. Google Earth image of UBC Rose Garden, edited to show the space unoccupied by humans in    2020 due to COVID-19.26   Figure 12. Rose specimen pictured at UBC in 2019. Kalli Niedoba.27   Figure 13. Recording the armature and its processes over 2018-2020. Kalli Niedoba.28   Figure 14. Sympoetic diagram. Kalli Niedoba.29   Figure 15. Imagining Scenario I. Kalli Niedoba.30   Figure 16. Imagining Scenario I. Kalli Niedoba.31   Figure 17. Imagining Scenario I. Kalli Niedoba.32   Figure 18. Imagining Scenario I in 360°. Kalli Niedoba.34   Figure 19. Scenario II. Kalli Niedoba.35   Figure 20. Imagining Scenario II, replica of Henry Moore’s Four Piece Composition. Kalli Niedoba.35   Figure 21.  Imagining Scenario II, replica of Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure. Kalli Niedoba.36   Figure 22. Imagining Scenario II in 360°. Kalli Niedoba.38   Figure 23. Imagining Scenario III. Kalli Niedoba.40   Figure 24. Imagining Scenario III in 360°. Kalli Niedoba.   Art about landscape architecture is an underused critical vehicle to trouble — if not wholesomely menace — a discipline that conflates conservation with conservatism. Art can provide shortcuts, loopholes, or patches to address lingering or gathering disciplinary concerns. It can manifest new aesthetic perspectives. It can privilege interpretation over the didacticism that dogs contemporary practice.     SARAH COWLES,  ‘Austerity Measures’I would like to thank Susan Herrington, my advisor, and others including Rachel Lazlo-Tait, David Zielnicki, Barbara Coles, Daniel Roehr and Martin Lewis - all of whom were thoughtful and significant mentors throughout my experience at SALA and during this project.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS1PDALandscape Architecture has react-ed to the pigeon-holing of its scope centered on contained parks and gardens, by expand-ing into other domains such as landscape urbanism, green infrastructure, and large scale climate adaptation. While these efforts are extremely important, this project takes a different posi-tion as it returns to the garden, and a globally significant flower species; the rose. PDA (Public Display of Affection) is a project that takes place at the University of British Columbia Rose Garden. As a typological case study, it co-opts the monofunctional and monocultur-al condition of the rose garden as an experi-mentation ground for the University’s Public Art Strategy. Framed conceptually by theo-ry surrounding Affective Ecology, and guided by Donna Haraway’s writings in Staying with the trouble: making kin in the Chthulucene, this project is an interpretive exercise that seeks to arouse the existing condition of the garden through embedding and extending invitations within the site to renegotiate terms of behaviour, and expand the potentialities of experience and encounter between human and non-human species. STATEMENT OF INTERESTFigure 1.  David Austin Junior smelling the fragrance of the cut rose Keira in the rose breeding test house.  Source:  David Austin Roses, United Kingdom.  www.davidaustin.com/uk/about-us/.STATEMENT OF INTEREST2Rosariums, or gardens dedicated to the display of roses, have marked sites across Europe since the 1800’s, and migrated West in the early 1900’s to make lasting impressions upon the North American landscape, often as additions to the public realm of institutions for government, and higher learning. Through site observation and archival research, the premise for undertaking this project at the UBC Rose Garden is to explore the notion of fixation within landscape architec-ture and garden design - that is, the desire to conserve these sites in light of both societal and environmental conditions. Research on roses suggests there have been over 30,000 varieties of rose cultivars developed by humans (predominantly men), and this num-ber increases in order to achieve new brilliant hues, reinstate their alluring scent, and ensure disease resistance against the many ailments that target their fragility. These new roses are then patented and named after a range of human fixations, myths, and conditions: ancient gods, living popes, car models, celebrities, astronauts, presidents, variations of sunsets, and the like. The American Rose Society, a group dedicated to the cultivation, breeding, marketing, and preserva-tion of roses within the United States, provides an extensive listing to these sites that mark the continent. Aerial satellite imagery provides a glimpse to the commonality shared by most of these gardens: a Beaux-Arts style central axis path, cushioned by lawn and complemented with a symmetrically planted rose-beds, enclosed with boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) hedges. Persuading visitors to remain on the path and view from a distance, these common elements of rosariums are prescribed for providing the ideal conditions for a rose specimen’s appreciation, as suggested by 19th century literature composed by nurserymen in Britain. Considering the need to replace the original, hybrid tea roses with new cultivars of remontant roses during its renovation in 1990 the means of con-servation becomes aligned with that of an histor-ical artwork. Exposed to the changing conditions of climate, both environmentally and socially, a question stands as to how preserving this land-scape and mythology of the rose remains rele-vant today. As a signifier to the human condition, rose cultiva-tion as a spatial practice is emblematic of the Anthropocene. Sustained by extensive irrigation, rich loamy soil, ample sun and often chemical intervention, the undeniable beauty and delicate livelihood of the rose poses a paradoxical con-flict of interest for the eco-logic that pervades contemporary landscape architecture (ie. low maintenance, resilient, drought tolerant, ‘native’). One may speculate on the future of this garden in respect to further renovations, and how exist-ing armatures may provide new opportunities for alternative interpretations and experiential programming. As accessories to institutions Figure 2.  UBC Rose Garden, 2020. Source: Kalli Niedoba.   I Love You4I LOVE YOU Coasting in, autonomously on carts, flowers	severed	from	all	corners	of	the	world	flow	through	the	Floraholland	auction house in Aalsmeer, Netherlands each working day between the hours of 05:00 and 11:00 AM Central Europe-an Time. By 11:00 AM they have been spoken for, broken up further from their allotments and distributed amongst another layer of distributors, before they reach	their	final	destinies	as	I love you’s; Thank-you’s; Congratulations’; and I’m sorry’s. One specimen is of particular interest during the calendar year; the rose. For love	and	for	profit,	roses	are	grown	in	large quantities to be at their prime stage of bloom on February 14th, Valentine’s Day. Millions of specimens are cut from their roots, dethorned, wrapped, and temperature controlled as they travel by land, air, and then land again, before they bear witness to the rituals of courtship. Arriving nondescriptly from Ecuador, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Ken-ya, roses are dispersed amongst vases in the kitchens of their Northern con-sumers in Europe and North America. According to the World Bank’s 2005 report, conspicuously titled The Europe-an Horticulture Market: Opportunities for Sub-Saharan African Exporters, ros-es dominate the world market at 28% of the	multi-billion	dollar	cut	flower	indus-try (21) that persists to grow, despite a growing awareness of the exploitation of human labour, freshwater resources, and exposure to harsh chemical inter-vention required to support the indus-try’s perpetual bloom (Styles 71, 188, 84). Despite its roots in imperial trade, and sheer proliferation conditional on capitalism, the rose’s determination to facilitate a basic human requisite of empathetic exchange on both inti-mate and ceremonial scales joint with its historical representations in litera-ture, poetry and art, argues that it is a fertile precursor, however paradoxical, to engage in the emerging discourse of Affective	Ecology.		By	definition,	“Affective	Ecology	is	the	branch	of ecology that deals with our connect-ing with Nature” (Barbiero 20)... More-over,	it	suggests	that	“fascination	may	indeed	account	for	the	affective	bond	that establishes between human beings and [non-human organisms] in some circumstances and that may also pro-vide a powerful emotive lever favour-ing an ethic of sustainability” (Barbiero 20).  In her book entitled Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthu-lucene, Donna Haraway describes the current premise of the Anthropocene as times	of	“urgency:	of	great	mass	death	and extinction; of onrushing disasters” (Haraway 35), adding Naomi Klein’s summation	that	“our	entire	economic	paradigm is a threat to ecological sta-bility” (qtd. in Haraway 47). Making a point not to drive itself into the corner of FIRST IMPRESSION,EVERLASTING5PDAapocalyptic	endings,	Affective	Ecology	turns to beginnings, co-opting Deleuze and	Guattari’s	philosophies	of	“becom-ing”, and Haraway’s later introduced suf-fix	of	“becoming	with”	the	many	others	with whom we share this planet (Singh 3). The opportunity to begin promotes an	experimental	effort	to	rethink	and	repattern human-nature relationships in order to pursue an alternative mode of	existence.	Affective	Ecology	there-by	opens	up	“possibilities	for	nurtur-ing other than-capitalist subjectivities” (Singh 3). When propped up against Royal FloraHolland’s billion dollar vision	statement,	“flowers	are	the	best	way to express emotion” (9), perhaps the best place to begin this discussion is within, rather than outside of capitalism. In the vein of novelist Michael Pollan, before “[nature]	can	exert	its	‘sanative	influ-ence’” upon meeting the challenges of the	Anthropocene,	 “we	have	first	 to	scrape	off	the	crust	of	culture	that	has	formed over it” (96).Figure 3. Map adapted from Allen Paterson’s The History of The Rose, 1983.Thank YouFigure 4. Tour of Royal FloraHolland, 2018.8THANK YOUIn the aim of untangling the rose from its mythological identity, tracing its origins leads to the marketing of its manufac-tured parts. In his novel Second Nature, Michael Pollan illustrates,   Twe n t ie t h  c e n t u r y  c a p i t a l i s m  discovered the rose and decided  what it needed after several millennia  of successful cultivation was a full-tilt   program of R&D, innovation, market  research, positioning, and advertising.  As gardeners are fond of pointing out,  the modern rose industry appears to  have modeled itself after Detroit. Each 	 year	 it	 introduces	a	handful	of	 ‘exciting’	  new models, many of them in  improbable neon and metallic shades  better suited to a four-door than a  f lower, and each bearing a loud, hypey  name dreamed up on Madison  Avenue and duly t rademarked.   (82-83)Looking further back to the 19th century, nursery man William Paul describes the uncertainty of the rose’s origin and	official	discovery;	“the	first	peo-ple	to	bring	this	flower	from	its	natural	habitats, to be a dweller in cultivated grounds, must ever remain a matter of conjecture” (Paul 3). It seems unusual to consider the rose was ever discovered as a species in the wild, when its invention as a product of culture is the crux of its persistence and proliferation in Western culture	today.	“With	more	than	30,000	cultivars, roses have the largest breeding output among all crops, yet the demand for new cultivars continues unabated” (Van Huylenbroeck 719). Historical accounts of the rose materialized greatly in the 1800’s, at a time when its culti-vation gained momentum in Western Europe. This is due to both advances in international trade, which promoted the collection of exotic species from distant origins, and the rise of literacy via the invention of the printing press (Hyde 32).  As the study of botanical sciences began to emerge (Hyde 32), so too began the cultivation of its target market. The literature accompanying rose cultivation was often bolstered by an extensive his-torical narrative, including a collection of	poetry	underscoring	its	significance	for cultural semblance.  Elizabeth Hyde describes in her book Cultivated Pow-er,	“as	new	flowers	made	their	way	to	Western Europe from exotic lands, the cultural	meaning	of	flowers	was	refash-ioned to accommodate the changing aspects	of	floriculture.	Ownership	and	cultivation of spectacular new blossoms required	geopolitical	influence,	scientif-ic knowledge, economic opportunity, and	cultural	refinement”	(Hyde	34).	Fur-ther, William Paul’s 1848 treatise on the rose entitled, The Rose Garden: In Two Divisions, of which ten editions would ensue through the turn of the century until 1903, is an example of the spirit THE PLEASURE IS MINE9PDAof enterprise at the time. Introducing his chapter reciting 58 poems dedicated to the rose,	Paul	surmises	“the	famous	gardens	of	Babylon, which are supposed to have existed 2000 years before the Christian era, would probably number the Rose among its trea-sures”	(Paul	3).	While	the	first	half	of	his	book	exhibits	the	cultural	significance	of	the rose, the second half, substantiated by the	first,	is	primarily	devoted	to	marketing	his own nursery catalogue, of which con-tains	“the	most	esteemed	varieties”	(Paul	i), alongside a list of other relevant publica-tions	dedicated	to	roses.	Roses	offered	their	human	handlers	a	mirror	to	reflect	back	at	them the traits and characteristics they so desired to exude. Through the production of considerable beauty, the cultivation of roses represented the notion that if humans “could	improve	nature”,	the	“manipulation	of nature...could contribute equally to the improvement of humanity” (Hyde xiv). The close proximity involved in manip-ulation between man and organism thus is suggestive of what could entail in the beginnings	of	a	‘symbiotic’	or	‘sympoi-etic’ (Haraway 61) relationship as illus-trated	through	the	magic	of	affective	ecological thinking. However, under the	autopoietic	guise	of	“self	making”	underpinned by the Age of Enlighten-ment and cradled by Charles Darwin’s “competitive	relations”	theorization	of	biological evolution (Haraway 61), the opportunity to collaborate was missed to the	determinable	ambitions	of	‘improve-ment’	and	‘growth’.	A	human-centred	relationship	with	flowers	pursued	the	opportunities	to	construct	“social	and	cultural identities, offering up new meanings safely removed from their disorderly heritage and entirely suitable for men to stage their learning, wealth, taste, and power” (Hyde 34).Paul traces this luxury back to Ancient Rome, where	the	“love	of	flowers	was...carried	to	excess”,	as	it	was	“customary	for	the	wealthy inhabitants to take their meals resting upon rose-leaves”, and to scat-ter	them	upon	the	beds	and	floors	of	the chambers of their guests (Paul 8). According to American landscape archi-tect Samuel Bowne Parsons,  who wrote a book entitled, The Rose: Its History, Poetry, Culture, and Classification, such an instance involved Cleopatra, who is cited	to	have	“paid	a	talent...for	a	quan-tity of roses, with which she caused the	floor	of	the	hall	to	be	covered	to	the depth of eighteen inches… in order that the guests might walk over them” (Parsons 18).  Today these customs are practiced to a lesser extent as surprising gestures carried out by the hospitality Figure 5. Woman leaves rose petal trail for gas man. CongratulationsFigure 6.  Northeast Mississippi Rose Show, 2013. 12CONGRATULATIONSWhile the world was accelerating into the age of Industrialization, the rose was brought along with it, alongside the rise of the middle class marketplace (Pollan 87).	“The	same	inventive	and	competi-tive impulses that helped spur the indus-trial revolution were brought to bear on	the	rose,	and	breeders	for	the	first	time deliberately sought to develop new hybrids	with	specific	traits	designed	to	appeal to the marketplace” (Pollan 87). So long as the rose could reinvent itself in various forms, it could maintain its position	as	a	cultural	fixture.	Considered	the	“first	non-edible	species	used	in	plant	breeding” (Van Huylenbroeck 722), the objectives for pursuing their cultivation were	primarily	“linked	with	ornamental	and	quality	values	like	attractive	flower	colors,	tough	petals	and	double	flowers,	quality	of	stems,	the	size	of	the	flowers,	durability and transport qualities, and, last but not least, production capacity” (Van Huylenbroeck 723).  To maintain the rose’s desirability, clubs and societies were established for the sole dedication to its development and breed-ing initiatives, creating a sense both of community	and	continuity	to	its	‘cause’.	Among the most popular were The Roy-al Rose Society (est. 1867) in Britain, the American Rose Society  (est. 1892) of the United States, and Friends of the Rose (est. 1896) in France. For instance, an	individual	could	become	officially	affiliated	with	the	sense	of	good	taste	and class distinction that roses inferred by joining the American Rose Society for a fee to receive annual newsletters about	the	desirable	flower.	In	its	1917	edition of the American Rose Annual, the society viewed itself as the energiz-ing central body to stimulate the produc-tion of roses in America for America. This	reflected	an	intense	wish	to	secure	the rose’s ties to the United States, with its production largely dependent on its popularity through consumer uptake. In	this	issue	the	editor	suggests,	“there	are too few varieties being forced [com-mercially]. The more varieties we have, the more opportunity there is of placing them before the public” (American Rose Society 10-11). This did not remain a challenge for long, as new roses prolif-erated, each with a persona, its nomen-clature	 reflective	of	 the	 spirit	 of	 the	breeder and the times. Michael Pollan lists,	“Chrysler	Imperial	is	actually	the	name of a rose. So is Sunstation. And Broadway (a two-toned wonder gaudy as a showgirl). Hoola Hoop. Patsy Cline. Penthouse. Sweetie Pie. Twinkie. Tee-ny Bopper. Fergie. Innovation Minijet. Hotline. Ain’t Misbehavin’. Sexy Rexy. Givenchy. Graceland. Good Morning America. And Dolly Parton” (83). The urge	to	‘publicize’	the	rose	was	encour-aged through the spirit of competition that permeated these societies, as rose exhibitions awarded ribbons and cash to	roses	displaying	the	finest	traits	(see	fig.	6).	Outside	of	these	events,	‘rosari-ums’, or gardens exclusively dedicated EXPERT LEVELINFATUATION13PDAFigure 7.  Illustration of Rose Cultivation. Kalli Niedoba.  	 belief	that	if	“the	rose	is	of	those	plants	ministering to man’s necessities and comfort...roses blooming in the public view in test-gardens [should] serve to stimulate	the	beginning	of	beneficient	local public rose-providing efforts” (A.R.S. 5). The design of these gardens as depicted in the aerial	photographs	(see	figure	8)	span-ning the following pages, functioned as	“a	familiar	reminder	of	‘home’	and	the norms of civilization” (Leslie and Hunt 7). Returning to William Paul’s literature, he suggested that the isolation of cultivars by parterres simply shaped in	geometries	such	as	“parallelograms,	squares, circles, ovals, and other regu-lar	figures”	would	be	in	perfect	harmo-ny with the character of the plants… [and] display the Roses to their greatest advantage” (56). Further, Paul stresses that	the	paths	“should	be	preferably	of	grass,	which	sets	off	the	plants	when	in	flower	to	much	greater	advantage	than	gravel. Grass walks are objected to by some because unpleasant to walk upon early in the morning, or after a shower of	rain;	but	they	give	such	a	finish	to	the	Rosarium, and lend such a freshness and brilliancy	to	the	flowers,	that	it	were	a	pity to forego these advantaged solely on this account. And if the grass is kept closely mown, the force of this objec-tion is greatly abated” (57). Through-out North America, dedicated rose gar-dens	fill	the	prescription.	These	alien	impressions on the landscape proceed to instill the sense of man’s domination over nature.14CONGRATULATIONSFigure 8.  Google Earth images of rose gardens thoughout North America, 2020.15PDAFigure 8.  Google Earth images of rose gardens thoughout North America, 2020.16CONGRATULATIONSFigure 8.  Google Earth images of rose gardens thoughout North America, 2020.17PDAFigure 8.  Google Earth images of rose gardens thoughout North America, 2020.I’m SorryFigure 9.  Dumping roses at Nini Flowers, a farm in Naivasha, Kenya. 2020. Source:  Jidovanu, Natalia. Dumping roses at Nini Flowers, a farm in Naivasha, Kenya. 2020. Bloomberg. www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-flower-industry-crash/20I’M SORRYTo procure continued growth in pursuit of profit,	large	scale	production	for	roses	as	cut	flowers	became	increasingly	located	geo-climatically (throughout the Global South) to sustain the demand from the market (North), starting in the 1970’s (BBC). Not only did these new avenues share	the	physical	traits	beneficial	to	flower	production,	such	as	“areas	of	high	altitude with cool nights, proximity to the equator for maximum hours of sunlight, and the ability to sustain 365-day-a-year production” (BBC), the availability of cheap labour and land were primary motivations for this transition. While this is observed globally, as Ecuador and Colombia are the primary exporters of roses for North America, the largest pro-ducer of roses is Kenya (Royal FloraHol-land, 34). With tenfold growth since the 1990s, as investments in infrastructure made large-scale exports possible, more than 150,000 people now toil on Ken-yan	flower	farms,	many	of	them	wom-en (Bloomberg). The consequences of such growth to meet the market’s desire for	roses	effectively	contributes	to	what	geographer David Harvey describes as “‘accumulation	by	dispossession’”	(qtd.	in	Oulu	372),	whereby	“outsourcing	[includes rendering] developing coun-tries more vulnerable to global political–economic conditions and often leads to negative domestic consequences such as environmental pollution and deforesta-tion, suppressed economic development, income inequality, food insecurity, and poor human health” (Oulo 380).  In light of the global pandemic of COVID-19 in 2020, the widespread cancellation of events and gatherings of people has diminished the incessant need for the ornament of roses. In its photograph-ic essay tographic essay entitled, The Crash of the $8.5 Billion Global Flower Trade,  Bloomberg features the Ken-yan context alongside the emptiness of Royal FloraHolland. A stationary vid-eo camera records a farm worker in Naivasha, disposing roses that are no longer	required	(see	fig.	9).	The	fair-ness	depicted	by	a	‘fair-trade’	sticker	quickly becomes a moot point as farm workers inevitably lose their jobs and means to feed their families, while as their counterparts in the North face the crushing disappointment and privilege of postponing their wedding. Showcas-ing	the	theory	of	“ecologically	unequal	exchange”(Oulo 372) in practice, the precariousness of the industry despite the proliferation of its cultivars poses the question, is it possible that roses carry the ability to exploit the human spirit to ensure their survival?Figures 9 and 10 on the facing page attempt to	illustrate	the	state	of	affairs	between	2019 and 2020 at the University of Brit-ish Columbia Rose Garden,  where the cancelling of events has emptied the campus of its human constituents, leav-ing the roses to bloom in solitude. PRICE IS RIGHT LOSING HORN21PDAFigure 11.  Google Earth image of UBC Rose Garden, edited to show the space unoccupied by humans in 2020 due to COVID-19.Figure 10.  Google Earth image of UBC Rose Garden in 2019, reflecting human circulation and gathering.22I’M SORRYAkin to what Robert Smithson may have deemed	as	a	‘“non-site’,	a	three-dimen-sional logical picture that is abstract, yet it represents an actual site else-where”,	this	project	finds	its	grounding	at the University of British Columbia Rose Garden. Its redesign in the 1990’s bears resemblance to the formal design qualities prescribed by William Paul, as consistent with the other rose gar-dens	throughout	North	America	(fig.	8).		The	garden	affords	one	to	review	the	“collection	as	a	whole”	and	formed	so	that	plants	are	grouped	“individual-ly, rather than collectively” (57). Aside from the organizing function, howev-er,	Paul’s	impetus	for	such	is	that	“he	regards [the roses] as so many friends or acquaintances, each one of which has a claim upon his attention” (58). This	personification	projected	upon	the rose provides an essential depar-ture point for which to explore the premise	of	Affective	Ecology.	As	the	branch of ecology that deals with our “connecting	with	‘Nature’”	(Barbiero	20). It operates on the fringe of West-ern	scientific	discourse	as	it	embraces	the emotive qualities of relationships between human beings and other living organisms. Rather than propose an entire redesign of the garden, this project views the existing landscape	“as	a	viable	foundation	also	for new forms of collaboration between the natural and social sciences” (Aish-er and Damodaran 296). In imagining how this could be realized, it utilizes the University of British Columbia’s Public Art Strategy as a prompt for developing the project further. As the strategy	states,	UBC	“is	in	a	position	to develop its campus into a site of ecological, social, and artistic experi-mentation.	Efforts	are	currently	under-way to achieve this vision through...the creative use of spaces between buildings. As imaginative public art, some of it controversial, is added to the campus, it becomes part of the process of ongoing experimentation so essen-tial to a vital university”. By co-opting the monofunctional and monocultural condition of the rose garden, the objec-tive is to develop an interpretive exer-cise	in	Affective	Ecology.	It	seeks	to	arouse the existing condition through embedding and extending invitations within the site to renegotiate terms of behaviour, and expand the potentiali-ties of experience and encounter, there-by rendering it a new landscape.The	floriculture	industry	may	seem	a	par-adoxical point of departure in inter-preting	the	spatial	practice	of	Affective	Ecology. However, this project gleans from the absurdity of human spirit that ensues with the hands-on practice of rose breeding and cultivation, in sup-port of a Do-It-Yourself aesthetic that is both inclusive and low-risk. In the words	of	Donna	Haraway,	“perhaps	it	is precisely in the realm of play, out-side the dictates of teleology, settled categories, and function, that serious worldliness and recuperation becomes possible” (23-24). 23PDAPROJECT SCHEDULEPDA26WHERE YOU END AND I BEGINPublic	displays	of	affection	are	acts	of	physi-cal intimacy in the view of others. This form of spectacle can be upsetting for onlookers; what is an acceptable display of	affection	varies	with	respect	to	cul-ture and context. Some organizations have rules limiting or prohibiting public displays	of	affection.Public	Display	of	Affection	(or	PDA)	is	a	project that takes place at the Univer-sity of British Columbia Rose Garden and Parkade.It co-opts the monofunctional and monocul-tural condition of the rose garden as an experimentation ground for the testing University’s Public Art Strategy. As an	 interpretive	exercise	 in	Affective	Ecology, it seeks to arouse the exist-ing condition through embedding and extending invitations within the site to renegotiate terms of behaviour, and expand the potentialities of experience and encounter.It is a result of both GP1 research on rose cultivation as a spatial practice, and the determination to work with a site in close proximity to allow for the devel-opment of a project that is guided by observation, fascination, and presence.PDARosariums, or gardens dedicated to the dis-play of roses, have marked sites across Europe since the 1800’s, and migrated West in the early 1900’s to make last-ing impressions upon the North Amer-ican landscape, often as additions to the public realm of institutions for govern-ment, and higher learning. These may be	read	as	‘civilizing’	landscapes,	or	living monuments to colonialism. The UBC Rose Garden is no exception to this interpretation.Figure 12.  Rose specimen pictured at UBC in 2019. Kalli Niedoba. 27PDAFigure 13.  Recording the armature and its processes over 2018-2020. Kalli Niedoba.28WHERE YOU END AND I BEGINThe diagram above imagines a sympoeitic system whereby the body functions in relation to other organisms, as a vec-tor	to	distribute	such	‘invitations’	for	encounter as the project’s approach suggests. It considers that systems are “evolutionary	and	have	the	potential	for	surprising change” (Haraway 33). It imagines the body as an apparatus for the cultivation of response-ability, that cul-minates	from	a	place	of	‘creative	uncer-tainty’.	“Response-ability	is	that	culti-vation through which we render each other capable, that cultivation of the capacity to respond” (Haraway 33). Figure 14.  Sympoetic diagram. Kalli Niedoba. The following pages describe various scenar-ios	to	which	the	practice	of	Affective	Ecology may emerge by embedding new elements within the existing armature of	the	Rose	Garden	to	prompt	‘Other’	processes. This experiment regardes fas-cination as a metric in for the bond that establishes between human beings and other organisms, in order to develop the emotive levers necessary for humans to cultivate an ethic of care for other liv-ing	beings.	It	values	‘invitations’	over	‘determinations’,	and	believes	that,	“like	cultures,	 landscapes	‘do	not	precede	encounters, but emerge out of them’” (Aisher and Damadoran 296).29PDAScenario I: COMPOSTInstructions1.	Collect	flower	petals	before	the	roses	begin	to bud and bloom. These can be from unsold	and	discarded	flowers	from	flo-rists, or collected on a walk from camel-lias, cherry blossoms and/or dandelions.2. Bring petals to the rose garden and disperse in the beds to feed critters who like com-post, and give the gardeners something to wonder about. Figure 15.  Imagining Scenario I. Kalli Niedoba.30WHERE YOU END AND I BEGINFigure 16.  Imagining Scenario I. Kalli Niedoba.Artist Pierre Hyughe on compost: “The	compost	is	the	place	where	you	throw	things that you don’t need that are dead...You don’t display things. You don’t make a mise-en-scène, you don’t design things, you just drop them. And when someone enters that site, things are in themselves, they don’t have a depen-dence	on	the	person.	They	are	indiffer-ent to the public. Each thing, a bee, an ant, a plant, a rock, keeps growing or changing.”On May 11, 2020, Kenya’s Daily Nation media outlet published an article with the head-line,	“ Sacked flower farm workers find footing in worms trade”. Every morning, she traverses the vast fields armed with a carrier bag looking for earthworms, which she says, guaran-tee her daily cash. She sells the worms to fishermen who use them to bait fish (Mwangi).31PDAFigure 17.  Imagining Scenario I. Kalli Niedoba.3332PDAWHERE YOU END AND I BEGINFigure 18.  Imagining Scenario I in 360°. Kalli Niedoba.34WHERE YOU END AND I BEGINScenario II: Gaps as OpportunitiesFigure 19.  Scenario II. Kalli Niedoba.Instructions1. Collect beef lard from a restaurant before it closes	indefinitely,	and	go	to	a	local	bird-er shop for bird seed and a suet recipe. 2.	Purchase	black	oil	sunflower	seeds,	white	millet,	striped	sunflower	and	safflower	seeds. Mix with lard and peanut butter.3. Spread mixture in the seams of the con-crete surrounding the parterres, encour-aging birds to get more comfortable in the garden. 4. Make a replica of one or two of Henry Moore’s Reclining Figures and watch it disappear. 35PDAFigure 20.  Imagining Scenario II, replica of Henry Moore’s Four Piece Composition. Kalli Niedoba.Figure 21.  Imagining Scenario II, replica of Henry Moore’s Reclining Figure. Kalli Niedoba.British sculptor Henry Moore made sev-eral works based upon the reclining figure,	influenced	by	motifs	found	in the landscape. Seen as a graceful female body in a state of passivity, it could doubly serve interpretations of hills, valleys, and rock formations (Albright Knox).  This scenario imagines passivity as an act of care, and highlights the necessity of  creating space in order to repat-tern behaviour for other encounters to emerge. Rather than catering to a human-centred experience, the ‘body’	is	deployed	to	disintegrate	through the consumption of birds, squirrels, and otherwise.3736PDAWHERE YOU END AND I BEGINFigure 22.  Imagining Scenario II in 360°. Kalli Niedoba.38WHERE YOU END AND I BEGINFigure 23.  Imagining Scenario III. Kalli Niedoba.Scenario III: A SpeechInstructions1. Make a speech to be overheard by the pub-lic in the garden by placing bluetooth speakers at the pergola. Make sure you are speaking slowly.2.	Promote	the	idea	of	getting	a	butterfly	to	land on them, by encouraging them to smell sweet (think Australian Gold tan lotion) and wear bright clothing, like tye dye. 3.	Ask	them	to	act	like	a	flower	and	sit	very	still. 4. A bee might sting. 39PDA If you’re lucky, a butterfly might land on you. There’s no guarantee this will work but, you can do a few things to increase your chances. The best rule of thumb is to act as a flower: Wear brightly colored clothes.  (I have a bright yellow and orange tie-dyed shirt that always seems to lure butterflies to me). Smell sweet. If you’re wearing a skin lotion or perfume that smells a bit like flowers, that can attract a hungry butterfly. Stay still. Flowers don’t move, so you won’t fool a butterfly if you’re walking around. Find a bench and stay put for a while.Print this page and read out loud at the garden when there are others around.4140PDAWHERE YOU END AND I BEGINFigure 24.  Imagining Scenario III in 360*. 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