Contemporary Adventures with The Garden of Earthly Delights: Open Worlds and Hieronymus Bosch

Abstract

Over 500 years after it was created, Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights continues to intrigue viewers. It has inspired contemporary artwork across diverse media including experimental film, digital animation and video games, as well as providing stimuli for curators, critics and collectors. This article maps present-day approaches to The Garden of Earthly Delights and links the enduring appeal of this painting to its interactive, multi-layered structure in which countless narrative vignettes play out simultaneously. Contemporary artworks that reference Bosch’s triptych are examined, with a special focus on digital creations by SMACK, Miao Xiaochun, Michael Bielicky and Kamila B. Richter. The exhibition The Garden of Earthly Delights Through the Artworks of Colección SOLO is also analyzed to illustrate how an understanding of Bosch’s work as interactive art informed the exhibition discourse, publication and architecture.