In The Open | Peter Jaeger & Joshua Scammell

Peter Jaeger is a Canadian writer based in London. He is the author of eleven books, including works of poetry, criticism, hybrid creative-critical research, and artist books. His most recent publications are 540493390 (2014) and A Field Guide to Lost Things (2015). Jaeger is Professor of Poetics at Roehampton University.

Joshua Scammell is a Canadian writer and filmmaker now living in LA. He is currently working towards his MFA in film production from the University of Southern California. Previous films include Summer Solstice Cloud City (2015) and The Lime Kiln (2016), and his research interests include Gilles Deleuze and Matsumoto Toshio.

Recycled Gardens is set in the parks and green spaces of Los Angeles. The film draws attention to how the environment of L.A. has been shaped by its language, and how that language has continually obscured commercial benefits for landowners, builders, and politicians. The film’s voice over recycles texts drawn from such diverse sources as municipal and state tourist brochures, the City of Los Angeles Department of Works publications on sanitation and sustainabiity, and excerpts from popular cultural icons such as genre fiction and dystopian films set in the city. Recycled Gardens considers how ‘nature’ in Los Angeles operates as a social construction with specific historical, ideological, and material ramifications.