What is a conceptual garden? - and what is a folded landscape?
The RHS has a conceptual gardens category, at the Hampton Court Flower Show, which has produced excellent work, pathetic work – and much confusion. (See: Hampton Court Conceptual Garden Applications for how the RHS explains the Concept Gardens idea). So let’s take the Folded Landscape, by Voght for the Laban Centre as an example.
- Conceptual art foregrounds ideas, with visual imagery taking a backseat.
- Gilles Deleuze put forward a set of ideas which derive from deconstruction, and which have almost superseded deconstruction as an influence on design theory. The underlying principle is monist: the world is only one thing (which Spinoza identified with God) and it constantly folds into new forms. The One becomes the Many; the Many is always the One (is there a Buddhist resonance here?)
- Voght designed a Folded Landscape for the Laban Centre. It is a prime example of a Conceptual Garden Design – with room for fruitful debate as to whether the visual image is the foreground, background or reflected ground.
The folding concept, though explained by its advocates with the greatest possible linguistic obfuscation, is an attractive principle for the re-integration of architectural design with garden and landscape design – after modernism rent them asunder.
Interesting, and Laban Centre is one of my favorite landscape design project in London. But I may be not very sure whether it is Folded Garden. For me, it is more like a land art work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_art .
An artist’s view, I think, is that it can’t be a work of art unless it is done by an ‘artist’. This leads to the difficult questions of (1) what is art? (2) what is an artist? Small minded artists would say that an artist must either (1) have been to art school (2) had their work exhibited in an art gallery, and catalogued. (3) preferably both of these things.
I used to go to art classes and I once had a painting in a gallery but I do not think ‘they’ would regard me as an artist.
Landscape architects, like architects, are regarded as people who make ‘functional’ places. For their work to be Fine Art, it would have to be totally useless.
In a broad view, everybody can be an artist, and you are an artist in this definition.
Re PS: Please check, Jerry has sent lots of emails to you, but sadly you did not reply each one of them, please check whether there is any spams in your email.
I agree, as Eric Gill said “The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist”. But I do not think ‘professional’ artists, or ‘art investors’ agree with this.
PS I checked my spam email folder and did not find any emails from Jerry (though I was surprised to find how many un-needed offers re Viagra were there!)
This reminds me the design of Northala Field, which I always think is a very good example of land art and was designed by artist. I always like artists’ landscape work and respect their idea in landscape, because they always can ‘jump’ out of the rules and provide emotional works!
PS: As a man,I suggest others to get some! Do not show off!
I have not visited Northala Field which may explain my doubts about the project. It is much better than the ‘flabby naturalism’ which comes so easily to landscape architects but, to me, it lacks the artistic energy and intellectual interest of a Charles Jencks project (eg the UEDA landform in Edinburgh).
One has to make all sorts of adaptations to growing old and, as the lady says, there is no opportunity to practice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPFCn3itBFE
Is there a turf argument going on here?
Practice makes perfect.( forget who say it)
Please choose a sunny weather in summer, or snowy weather in winter, go there. I am sure, you will love it. If you do not love it, which is not the fault of Northala field, it is the fault of you！ Then， please keep going there time and time again. In the end, I am sure, you will love it!!
Christine, could you please explain your question? then I can answer you.Thank you.
I would like to photograph many more places in the snow. The problem is that it only takes about 10mm of snow to bring London’s transport system to a complete standstill
No excuse,please. Go there and photograph it! You will enjoy being there.Trust me!
Hello Jerry I’m sure Tom will be better able to explain the humour behind my comment than me!
Re Christine, I do not know about Tom, but I think he is busy christmas shopping. So, you, please explain^.^
“Writing has nothing to do with meaning. It has to do with landsurveying and cartography, including the mapping of countries yet to come”
― Gilles Deleuze
“An image of thought called philosophy has been formed historically and it effectively stops people from thinking.”
― Gilles Deleuze, Dialogues II
“Philosophy, art, and science are not the mental objects of an objectified brain but the three aspects under which the brain becomes subject.”
― Gilles Deleuze
Thank you very much for the quotations. Since landscape architects’ interest in ideas is so marginal, they can provide us with just the kind of nourishment we need.
But they also continue the long irrationalist strand in French philosophy, which is disconcerting for those with enthusiasms for empiricism, rationalism and pragmatism.
Thankyou Tom. Please tell Jerry that Lady Boothroyd is engaging in turf warfare with her garden mole…however, I don’t think there is a verbal exchange involved.
French irrationlist philosophy is useful for breaking open topics so that they can be effectively explored before being foreclosed by a rational proposition…so thankyou Mark.
About French irrationalist philosophy, I agree. I find it useful and amusing but persist in my preference for rationalism.
The landscape around the Laban Dance Centre came close to the bottom on a preference survey, as did many other examples of conceptual design.
Interesting. What kind of preference survey? – who conducted it and who was surveyed?