Incorporating the Critical: Environmental Art's Vitality in Landscape Architecture

INCORPORATING THE CRITICAL: ENVIRONMENTAL ART’S VITALITY IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

Allen Michael Pratt Master of Landscape Architecture Candidate, 2014 University of Georgia College of Environment + Design Bachelor of Architecture, 2012 University of North Carolina at Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture Major Professor: Katherine Melcher Committee: Marianne Cramer, Tad Gloeckler, Maureen O’Brien Graduate Thesis Oral Presentation Monday, April 7, 2014

The Thesis • What is Environmental Art’s value to landscape architecture?

-What is Environmental Art’s application in the study and practice of landscape architecture?

• Environmental Art:

- is described as creative work that alters the built

or natural environment in which it is located - either

physically, temporally, or in another manner - with

an underlying motive concerning a specific environment “In short, (Environmental Art) seems to restore landscape architecture to its old and largely lost concern for the intricate melding of site, sight, and insight.”

Udo Weilacher

Why Environmental Art? • Environmental Art situates humans in the landscape, often altering the conditions of spatial, ecological and cultural contexts.

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• Environmental Art is a diverse design medium that can explore:

-physical issues of scale, site, and materiality

-critical issues of user engagement – people’s

physical, psychological, interpretive, or cognitive

interaction with an environment - at full scale.

EA

• However, seldom do landscape architects recognize Environmental Art as a tool to study and apply landscape architectural concepts.

• This thesis positions Environmental Art as a medium in between art and landscape architecture that can be used in a variety of ways - especially through design exploration - to better address often overlooked aspects of landscape architecture.

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Traditional LAND ARCH

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• Landscape architecture is developing a much needed theory base

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The Relationship

Traditional LAND ARCH

• A reactionary quality of this growth is a distancing between landscape architecture and art

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• Landscape architecture is developing a much needed theory base

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The Relationship

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LAND ARCH

Traditional LAND ARCH

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• A reactionary quality of this growth is a distancing between landscape architecture and art

Trending R LAND ARCH

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Potential R ART

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• However, contemporary artists and landscape architects share a realm of overlapping practice and are concerned with similar issues such as ecology, urban intervention, perception, and the ephemeral

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• Landscape architecture is developing a much needed theory base

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The Relationship

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The Relationship

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Knut Asdam (paraphrased)

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“Imagine a landscape architecture that is not so concerned with looking to art for style, but for ways of understanding place and people’s interaction with it; the physical, psychological and social space.”

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How Was Environmental Art Used? • This thesis investigated Environmental Art’s potential value as an investigative tool to landscape architects.

This started with an understanding of its history.

Historical Synthesis Identified applications

How Was Environmental Art Used? • This thesis executed a series of case studies to reveal and exhibit examples of Environmental Art that address landscape architectural concepts.

Historical Synthesis

Case Study

Identified applications

Examined applications

How Was Environmental Art Used? • This thesis then tested the revelations from historical synthesis and the case studies through the design and implementation of an Environmental Art intervention.

Historical Synthesis

Case Study

Design-Research

Identified applications

Examined applications

Tested applications

Historical Synthesis

Monet’s London Series •first to abstract the representation of an environment •did not physically alter or spatially respond to environment 1905

Historical Synthesis “The first form designed to ‘pull in’ a person coming from the great hall is placed diagonally, ‘directing’ the visitor toward the large horizontal of the front wall, and from there to wall number three with a vertical. At the exitSTOP! A square at the bottom- the basic element of all design. A relief on the ceiling, placed within the same visual angle, repeats this movement.”

Monet’s London Series

Lissitzky’s Proun Room

1905

• first to move from 2D abstract representation to realized spatial alteration of environment • interior, pedestrian scale

1922

Historical Synthesis

1905

Lissitzky’s Proun Room

Monet’s London Series

Land Art Movement

1922

• moved away from gallery into natural environments • typically minimalist forms • land manipulation and often used natural materials 1950s-1970s

Historical Synthesis

1905

1922

Land Artists

Lissitzky’s Proun Room

Monet’s London Series

Return to the City • return to the city to engage public realm • Art-in-Architecture Program (federal funding) • belief that art in the public realm had many benefits 1950s-1970s

1980s-1990

Historical Synthesis

1905

1922

1950s-1970s

Return to the City

Land Artists

Lissitzky’s Proun Room

Monet’s London Series

Emphasis on Environment

1980s

• addressing issues of climate change, ecology, etc.

• more attention to user • opportunity for overlap between fields (Venice Biennale exhibition) 1990-present

Historical Synthesis • Although presented in a diverse range of mediums and scales, one aspect remains constant: the artist’s intent to present new perceptions of a place predicated on how humans interact with the environment in which they inhabit.

1950s-1970s

1980s

Emphasis on Environment

Return to the City

1922

Land Artists

1905

Lissitzky’s Proun Room

Monet’s London Series

• This intent translated throughout the investigations of the case studies and the development, design, and analysis of the author’s own Environmental Art installation.

1990-present

Case Study • This thesis then examined the applications of Environmental Art revealed in the historical synthesis by executing a series of case studies.

Peter Eisenman The Garden of the Lost Steps (2005) Kurt Perschke RedBall Project (ongoing) VAV Architects Mirror Lab (2011) Tim Knowles Tree Drawings (2012)

• The case studies examined diverse Environmental Art works, revealing approaches, concepts, and issues applicable to the practice of landscape architecture.

Case Study • RedBall creates a “state of wonderment” that builds a “metaphorical bridge between people. The curiosity leading to the questions leading to the conversation…no walls there, just bridges.”

Process: collage; in-situ placement

Kurt Perschke RedBall Project (ongoing)

Material: vinyl and air

Placement: urban realm

Engagement: tactile, social

Case Study • RedBall is simultaneously site specific and site generic; it can go anywhere, yet is intimately connected to any given location; it is inflated within the site.

Tactile Engagement

Social Engagement

Environmental Alteration

Critical Thinking

Key Concepts: - Flexibility/adaptability - In-situ design - User engagement - Changing the perception of public spaces

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Design - Research • This thesis finally tested the applications of Environmental Art to verify and discover its value as an explorative spatial medium for landscape architects.

• The site used was the South Lawn of the FMG and was implemented and studied over a span of ten days.

• Direct observation was used to influence the design concept and to examine the installation once implemented.

FMG Illustrative

“The temporal and spatial ‘cut’ of short-lived artworks is capable of complex acts of dislocation and re-positioning.”

Judith Rugg

• The Environmental Art installation, Indexing the InBetween, seeked to record and represent events, processes, and action occurring within the site, and challenge users to more closely examine their surroundings.

FMG Circulation Diagram

Design - Research • Design decisions were made in-situ, based on prior user behavior, and on the physical conditions of the South Lawn.

• The “datum” for the installation became the desire line to the west of the cobblestone path; this desire line existed because it is uncomfortable to walk on.

• The desire line was revealing not only a circulation problem, but also produced ecological problems including the effects of erosion, and altered soil quality.

South Lawn (from west looking east)

FMG South Lawn Diagram

South Lawn (from north looking south)

Concept Indexing the In Between

Key Concepts: • Flexibility/adaptability • In-situ design decisions • React to user behavior • Encourage user engagement • Change the perception of the South Lawn as a “through” spaces for most users • Experiment with basic materials and fabrication

Experimentation Key Considerations: • Polyester chosen because of flexibility, transparency, and color • Bamboo chosen because of easy access and workability, availability, and in reference to the bamboo in the FMG • Attached to ground with landscape staples • Attached to bamboo with fishing line

Day One

Phase One

Key Considerations: • Would people walk on the fabric or avoid it if given the chance? • What sorts of marks would the installation produce?

Day Two

Phase One

Day Three

Phase Two

Key Considerations: • Would people make the connection between process and product on display?

• Would people stay on path or still attempt to walk off of it?

Day Four

Phase Two

Day Five

Phase Three

Key Considerations: • Scale: the installation became more prevalent and noticeable quickly.

• Installation on woodland walk.

Day Six

Phase Three

Day Seven

Phase Four

Key Considerations: • Scale: How to organize pieces on display to better engage pedestrians • Everything was too “parallel” to the path • People were more de synthesized to stark contrast of fabric.

Day Eight

Phase Four

Days 9-10

Final Form

Key Considerations: • Orientation is extremely important in design. The displayed pieces were oriented parallel to the path, and did not force confrontation. • People did look up from phones at their surroundings.

Phases

Compilation

1 4 2

Key Considerations: • As scale increased, the concept’s clarity may have weakened, although its physical presence was undeniable and caused contemplation.

• Process: As the process played out, some of the pieces got “washed out” making them less compelling as a display piece

5 3

Reflective Case Study • “The temporal and spatial ‘cut’ of short-lived artworks is capable of complex acts of dislocation and repositioning… has produced a new international realm of awareness of the potential of short-lived art works and their capacity to animate and linger as catalysts for memory and debate.”

Allen Pratt Indexing the In Between

Process: in-situ placement

Material: polyester and bamboo

Placement: public garden

Engagement: tactile, social, psychological

Reflective Case Study • By folding the concept of site into the concept of project – by making the site either a part of or the object of the project – new associations between these terms emerge. When site and project are construed as elements of a dialectic, we are freed to reexamine and/or reenergize the relationship one shares with the other.

Key Concepts: - Flexibility/adaptability - In-situ design - Site as project - User engagement/ participation - Changing the perception of under appreciated public space

In-Situ Placement

Social Engagement

Environmental Alteration

Critical Thinking

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Tactile Engagement

Applications of Environmental Art • Orientation is important • The struggle with form versus content: what it “looks like” vs its “message” • Concept sketch does not necessarily translate to full scale • Material is important, both aesthetically and functionally • Minimal intervention can greatly alter a space, and provide a new, lingering perception of place • Environmental Art: -is engaging (people notice the “different”; creator partakes) -is exploratory (process, form, issues)

-offers solutions (cobblestone path) -is affordable (<$100 for Indexing the In Between) -starts conversations (what is this for?)

-teaches (through experience or participation)

Conclusion The value of Environmental Art to landscape architecture is its ability to be utilized as a medium in which designers can explore their ideas. Landscape architects can look to and use Environmental Art for methods of addressing critical relationships concerning peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s physical, psychological, and social interactions with a place, AND can explore physical relationships such as scale, site, and materiality at full scale without the extensive constraints often present in a landscape architectural project.

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“We know how important are the spaces between or intersected by buildings. The actual areas we move through every day – while we seldom have access to the buildings – on our way to work, school, the shop or a friend – need to be considered more crucially in terms of environments by landscape architects independent of the concerns of the owners of the buildings, be they public or private.”

Knut Asdam (paraphrased)