2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Liverpool Garden Festival – the inaugural edition of a 1980/90s project to reclaim derelict or dangerous land by throwing a party at it. I've been fascinated by these events for years – and even made a documentary about the 1992 Ebbw Vale festival.
Managing the legacy of these festivals is notoriously difficult - especially as expectation and ambition as to what came next was always sky high - but they were only ever rolled-out in places where the economic circumstances were difficult to begin with. We found ourselves driving near the 1984 site and I had to make a detour to check it out. Just like Ebbw Vale, some of it has been turned over to housing, some is public woodland/parkland and a good portion is still under development – but walking round Festival Gardens is now a very peculiar experience. In amongst the drained lakes and rickety bridges you occasionally stumble upon partially restored remnants of the festival - like this pagoda.
