I stumbled across the work of Ilkka Halso on BLDGBLOG today. Her latest exhibition, "The Museum of Nature," displays stunning views of nature, but confines them within man-made structures. (Is "man-made" a sexist term? Is the proper term "human-made"?) As Geoff Manaugh, the author of the post on BLDGBLOG, eloquently states
The basic premise of Halso's digitally manipulated work is that "nature" has been transformed into a museum display – yet the public's interaction with this new, endangered artifact is limited...
True. I had the great fortune of growing up in Monmouth County, NJ. We had a handful of parks where I lived, and every week, I would go out hiking by myself in the woods.
I'd get lost for a few hours, imagining I belonged to the Lenape Tribe. I would follow the dirt trails: fording small streams, walking gingerly across fallen logs, and hanging off of nearby cliffs while swinging on the knobbed roots of trees.
Yet, now I live in New York City, and there's hardly a time when I can interact with nature and feel at one with it.
The city parks and gardens don't count: (1) they feel too man-made and (2) there is too many people. The times I do go out hiking -- when I get out of the city, or travel to far-away destinations like Hawaii or Trinidad -- I feel like a visitor, an outsider rather than active resident of nature.
So, I guess my interactions with nature have become like Halso's museum experience... maybe I'm just not cut out to be a city dweller.
If you have time, you should visit Halso's website too; she has some interesting work and it's all about the intersection of science and art.
No comments:
Post a Comment