Possibilities of the Contemporary Landscape
Possibilités du paysage contemporain
Published on Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Abstract
Contemporary representations of landscapes are evolving considering the new climatic, political, and technological challenges. The advent of the Anthropocene has led to a reevaluation of the relationship between humans and nature and, consequently, the mode of landscape representation, not only as a motif, but also as a form and construction. Additionally, the fragmentation of memories, the growth of new technologies, and the constant flux of images disrupt the way contemporary artists represent life. This workshop will compare different techniques and construction systems to think about the landscape as a motif, subject, and theoretical concept facing today's challenges.
Announcement
The workshop will take place on the 17th of January, 2025, at Aix-Marseille University (Bâtiment Turbulence, 3 Place Victor Hugo, 13331 Marseille).
Argument
The landscape is different from the country, nature, or territory by its relationship with humans, especially with human perception. It is "the result of an interaction structure linking an individual and a site which makes that, for one individual, but maybe not for the other next to him, this site is a landscape[1]." In this definition, Philippe Descola analyzes the possibility of generating this notion beyond cultures that developed landscape representations, pictorial or literary. Our perception of nature has been recently disrupted by a consciousness of the climate catastrophe. Thus, the extension of interest in other forms of landscape representations proposed by Descola meets the questioning of a humanist model where the symbolic form of the landscape is entirely related to humans, to the one who looks and shapes this nature. It should be noted, as Pierre Wat points out, that this theoretical formulation of the landscape has been continually countered by the practice of painting. Finally, this interaction between an individual and a site is not only spatial but also temporal, both by the traces of time that the site can contain, but also by the way a history will be reconstructed in the representation. The landscape is a sedimentation of traces.
Contemporary changes challenge these different conceptions of the landscape. The entrance in the Anthropocene leads to rethink the relationship between humans and nature, and therefore the mode of landscape representation, not only as a motif but also as construction and form. In addition, fragmented memories, rapidly growing new technologies, and a constant flux of images question the possibility of sedimentation for the person who looks at it but also for the one who stands “next to him”.
This workshop will focus on this articulation between the artist and nature by analyzing the process of constructing and composing spaces of representations that can be associated with the landscape. How does this relationship happen today? How does the notion of landscape change today? How do artists treat it? How do they look at it and transcribe it? Is the term of “landscape” still relevant considering the will to open the point of view over the reality? How can the idea of representation be considered outside the established framework of landscape? Are contemporary practices closer to a conception of the landscape that includes the subject as an entity of the life, and not as an external spectator of it? How does this conception affect the historical dimension of the landscape?
The workshop will juxtapose different conceptions of the landscape and constructions of the space visible since the 2000s. It would be interesting to connect a wide variety of landscape representation modes, as well as techniques, including painting, drawing, photography, video, performance, sculpture, installation, digital arts, and other mixed techniques opening new possibilities of space representation. What techniques, processes, and systems of representation do artists use and for which reasons? Are there new ways of representing the landscape over the past two decades? Does the advent of digital technology, bringing the flood of images and social networks, influence the artists' relationship to the life and modify the way artists represent the landscape? How does it happen in the construction of the space? Is there also a renewal of classical modes of landscape representation? What relationships do contemporary practices keep with the earlier representations of the landscape?
[1] Philippe Descola, "Anthropologie de la nature," L’annuaire du Collège de France, 112 | 2013, pp. 649-669.
Submission Guidelines
Please send a proposal in English or French (max. 2500 characters with spaces), a title and a short biography (max. 800 characters) to Noémie Cursoux at the following address: noemie.cursoux@etu.univ-amu.fr
By September 20th, 2024.
Each talk will last 30 minutes.
Scientific Committee
- Noémie Cursoux (PhD student in Arts, Art Sciences, Aix-Marseille University)
- Romain Mathieu (Lecturer in Art History, Paul-Valéry University Montpellier)
- Anna Guilló (Lecturer in Fine Arts and Art Sciences, Aix-Marseille University)
- Camille Prunet (Lecturer in Art Theory and Exhibition Practices, Toulouse - Jean Jaurès University)
Subjects
- Representation (Main category)
- Mind and language > Representation > History of art
Places
- Bâtiment Turbulence, Université Aix-Marseille - 3 Place Victor Hugo
Marseille, France (13)
Event attendance modalities
Full on-site event
Date(s)
- Friday, September 20, 2024
Keywords
- paysage, art contemporain, histoire de l’art, représentation, enjeu socio-politique, écologie, vivant, peinture, dessin, sculpture, photographie, art visuel, art numérique, performance, installation, cinéma, vidéo, intelligence artificielle
Contact(s)
- Noémie Cursoux
courriel : noemie [dot] cursoux [at] etu [dot] univ-amu [dot] fr
Information source
- Noémie Cursoux
courriel : noemie [dot] cursoux [at] etu [dot] univ-amu [dot] fr
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Possibilities of the Contemporary Landscape », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, https://doi.org/10.58079/123xu
