Suspended Gardens 2is a metaphor that references history, borrows meanings from contemporary culture, and offers a platform for political commentary in a subtle way. It is a hybrid between an interactive Flash game, a message-board and a simulation system rendered relevant by the usa invasion of Iraq.

Today's digital war makes the explosion of a "precision-guided missile" appear like a mere bleep on a screen. Death is distant and often invisible. The audience is desensitized and apathetic. Virtual flowers planted in cyberspace will attempt to establish a symbolical link to a reality that is distant, re-mediated and reduced by the digital stream. How ironic that the technological platform that makes this project possible is an offspring of military research.

Suspended Gardens 2 users can chose from three types of flowers whose growth is influenced daily by various factors (climate, population, oil, war, other plants). The flowers also carry a user-assigned text message that can be easily read by the whole community. Additionally users are able to see in real time how the garden evolves.

The Suspended/Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders was located on the East bank of the River Euphrates, about 50 km south of Baghdad.

PHP application, Flash front-end, MySQL database

[launch project page]