"THE PASSION caused by the great and sublime in nature, when those causes operate most powerfully, is astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror. In this case the mind is so entirely filled with its object, that it cannot entertain any other, nor by consequence reason on that object which employs it. Hence arises the great power of the sublime, that, far from being produced by them, it anticipates our reasonings, and hurries us on by an irresistible force. Astonishment, as I have said, is the effect of the sublime in its highest degree; the inferior effects are admiration, reverence, and respect."
—Edmund Burke, On the Sublime and the Beautiful
The discipline of Environmental Aesthetics proposes a philosophical and phenomenological analysis of human relationships to environments be they man-made or natural. Theorists have used this analytical structure to examine specifically human relationship to the natural environment and to create a catalyst for environmental preservation and engagement. Through the process of cognizant, aesthetic interaction with the natural world individuals, societies, and cultures can then develop an environmental awareness away from an anthropocentrically centered system—stewardship, ownership—toward participatory ethical relationship to the natural world.
Nature and the natural world have historically been the subject and object of aesthetics. The natural has been conceptualized and theorized as the beautiful, pastoral, sublime, and picturesque. These aesthetic categories have historically functioned to frame and construct the natural world for us against a human technologically determined environment. Environmental Aesthetics poses questions and forms an analysis of our aesthetic relationship and judgments of the natural world as a methodology for coming to a better relationship that will promote environmental respect not just preservation. Additionally, this field attempts to situate humans within the natural world in contrast to above and against it. Is our relationship to nature always already an aesthetic mode of perception and articulation?
Manifest Landscape is a community-based project that engages the field Environmental Aesthetics to create a methodology for the preservation of natural landscape as open space with the goal of species protection.
The Romantic Movement in the arts during the 19th century shifted cultural perceptions of “landscape” and nature in the West. No longer was landscape inferior to the human subject in art, but subsequently became the locus of artistic expression and inquiry. Parallel to this investigation of the aesthetics of nature by artists; writers, theoreticians, and philosophers developed concepts for the intimate interaction between the human subject and environment. Among these writers Henry Thoreau and the transcendentalists sought to privilege human interaction and connectedness with nature; where nature is a mirror of the psyche. Earlier Edmund Burke conceptualized nature as the site of the sublime experience creating a view of the natural that the natural world that induced emotional terror and horror.
Counter to Thoreau’s conceptions of the human entertwinedness with nature the aesthetics of nature were also enlisted toward the exploitation of the natural world and its classification as resource for consumption. Intrinsic to 19th century American nationalism was the ideology of Manifest Destiny. This creed promulgated a belief in the democratic ideal and American exceptionalism and was called upon to motivate expansion westward. Drawing inspiration from the ideology of Manifest Destiny artist such as Albert Beirstadt traveled west and returned to paint grand idealized visions of a great wilderness ready to be conquered and exploited. The light in Beirstadt’s work draws the viewer westward toward thedivine gift of open lands and abundant resources.
What is active in all of these perspectives and perceptions of nature is the emotional response implicit in each theory. This project draws on the emotional responses to nature and landscape that informs these historical concepts, which continue to influence contemporary perceptions of the natural world. Manifest Landscape functions as an inversion of the expansionist ideologies of Manifest Destiny. Contrary to these historical moves toward the exploitation of land this project addresses preservation of landscape and species through aesthetic practices. Through this work the group argues that species are better protected by reference to landscape and playing on emotional and aesthetic relationships to nature.
For this project the group investigate sites where there are endangered or threatened species - especially those with encroaching development. At those sites the group will photograph the landscape where these species live and produce large-scale photographs that are digitally manipulated to create dramatic images based on the work of 19th century landscape painters. The second stage of the project is to exhibit the work in the communities where they were photographed. As part of the exhibition individuals from the community – homebuyers, developers, civic leaders, and others – will be invited to meet in a forum to discuss open space, environmentally fragile lands, and encroaching development toward creating a dialog about solutions that would allow for the coexistence of these spaces with the needs for housing.
Currently, the group is working in Livermore at sites where the habitat of endangered species such as the red-legged frog, burrowing owl, kit fox, and tiger salamander are targeted for development. The image to the right is an example of a manipulated image created from a photograph taken at one of these habitats.
In the mid-17th century Holland and other parts of Europe became possessed by the genetics of desire. Tulipmania was the term coined for frenzied speculation on the most rare and aesthetically exacting form and color of tulip. Plants were bred according to ideals of beauty operating at that time. At the height of tulipmania single bulbs of the variety Semper Augustus (left) were selling for over $2500 a bulb in today’s currency. This desire has operated throughout human history in botany and animal husbandry. Charles Darwin in The Origin of the Species identifies the processes by which humans have manipulated and acted as selection pressures on plants and animals. In addition he uses the phrase “unconscious selection” to classify the unknown effects of human selection on nature through time.
What unconscious pressures and desires do we place on nature in our times? Will genetics allow us to further manipulate the world so that we only see ourselves reflected in the environment? How does desire play out in our contact with and perceptions of landscape and nature? Do aesthetic judgments as those that produced tulipmania always already frame our contact with nature? Perhaps new life forms could be created that are capable of cleaning toxic environments and restoring affected places to their former wild state. But would we recreate these environments as a more idyllic places? Would this be an ethically appropriate use of genetic engineering? Will artists in the future have genetic material available as a palette?
Our aesthetic operations and perceptions can backfire where the genetic code becomes plastic material and art. We may then use genes as our palette toward new lifeforms designed for artistic desire. Rather than paint the landscape we can create landscape that fits our aesthetic principles and desires. Thus, the representation becomes the thing itself and our ideas and desires can now be produced as natural objects that are set into the landscape. The conceptions of the idyll, pastoral, and picturesque enter the realm of physicality shifting the environment toward a more anthropocentrically designed natural world.
To examine these questions this project group is producing new taxonomic structures to accommodate the aesthetics of new life-forms. We are classifying the flora represented in 19th century landscape painting in order to create categories that then could be determined genetically. The translation of the aesthetics of the plant life represented in a Thomas Cole painting into taxonomic configuration will allow us to then possibly create new forms of plant life – trees, grasses, flowers – that are aesthetically improved upon toward bringing nature in line with our cultural and historical representations. Genetic material would be developed that would not just produce a certain species of cottonwood tree, but a species that would be uniquely aesthetized in the nature of the sublime.
The 21st Century presents us with expanded capability developed by science and technology to create new forms of life through genetic modification. It is important to examine this new capability in alternative and unexpected ways as a method to create discourse on the potentials of this new power. By recognizing this future and commenting on its science and culture our group hopes to develop a critical and ethical response to what seems to be the inevitability of these technologies. The field of research we choose to explore transgenic plants – plants crafted through gene splicing often combining animal with plant genes. Where do we place these plant/animal hybrids in the taxonomy of life? We answer this question by creating another kingdom that function in the geno-liminal space between animal and plant. Our research explores this kingdom and its structures by creating new plant forms.
The methods by which we examine this new taxonomy are to adopt a new mode of Manifest Destiny – no longer do we explore and discover but we create new territories from the ground up. In the style of 19th century photographers and painters working in the west we look to create transgenic landscapes and species. The first of our methods is to develop a transgenic paintbox. We see in the future new possibilities for artists’ materials in genes and the structuring of life forms. Our “paintbox” will consist of a computer program that accesses a database of genes and genetic information that we can then mold and shape into new transgenic plant-animals. The program will create genomes, chromosomes, and images of our new species.
Aesthetics are crucial to the realization of our project. The project group envisions creating entire landscapes molded to our aesthetic criteria and judgments. Through our transgenic landscapes we will formulate a new aesthetic theory of man-made beauty. Humans will no longer reflect on the external and natural world that is received, but an internal human centered conception of natural beauty. As a ground for our investigation of beauty we return to the 19th painters; Bierstadt, the Hudson River School, et. al. These artists expressed the idea of boundless nature available to man for resources and pleasure. The group sees the realm of genetic engineering as an equal frontier. These artists created a mythical landscape of abundance that drove the move westward. We too look to create a new mythology of genomic space.
The world faces an unprecedented crisis in energy production, global warming produced by hydrocarbon emissions, and shrinking non-renewable energy resources. This crisis has brought about destruction of species and habitats, international conflict, economic instability, and population displacement. These issues will worsen as global warming increases and fossil fuel supplies decline. There exist viable technologies and solutions to the current and pending energy and environmental crisis. The project group seeks to create a dialog around innovative solutions that would include the work of electronic artists and other creative thinkers.
We will examine solutions and ideas through website, panel discussion, and community meetings for large-scale energy production with the focus on possibilities of scaling production to the level of the local community and the individual. The discussion may include transportation issues, but will primarily focus on the production and distribution of electrical power. Individuals participating in this dialog will include artists, technologists, alternative energy users, individuals from the alternative energy industry, designers and architects, computer-networking experts, and sociologists.
How can artists and technologists work together to develop and promote alternative energy methodologies, concepts, uses, and implementation?
Zoning laws stipulate aesthetic criteria for construction within a community. Can artists, architects, contractors, et al. participate in developing aesthetically appropriate alternative energy construction that maintains the desires and integrity of a community?
Can artists work as activists creating awareness of the crisis of energy consumption and possible solutions?
In what ways can artists through activism bring together individuals interested in possibilities for rethinking energy consumption and production? Are there ways in which artists can initiate dialog between governmental agencies, local citizens, designers, engineers, and industry?
Can artists work to facilitate and help implement social strategies and education for the use, design and implementation of alternative energy projects?
Electronic artists are consumers of energy as part of their practice. How can artists examine their use of energy resources toward conceptualizing alternative
energies in the production and presentation of their work?
Can artists work with industry, designers, and researchersto develop research projects to promote and develop alternative energy?
What is the current state of renewable energy production technologies?
Can production of energy be localized to communities of producer/users, such as networking together homes that produce excess energy that can be shared by others?
In what ways can communities structure, develop, and converse about local energy producing resources?
It is possible that movement toward a more sustainable energy environment will be incremental – slowly offsetting the use of fossil fuels. What kind of strategies and processes are possible for a substantial switch over to alternative and renewable energy in the near future? What would be a reasonable timeline for implementation?
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