Ambiguous

Landscapes
Lewis Benmore
 Contents

Introduction

An Occupied Landscape

Tentsmuir Beach

Traversing the Landscape

Salar De Uyuni Bolivia

Richard Long ‘Walking a circle in mist’

Distorted Senses

Snow-Covered Landscape
Sand-box Experiment

Visual Perception

Damien Hirst ‘Albumin, Human, Glycated

’Bridget Riley ‘Metamorphosis‘

Physical Disengagement

Richard Serra ‘Sidewinder’

Antony Gormley ‘Blind Light’
Daniel Libeskind ’Jewish Museum’

Conclusion
The spaces between buildings and the site have as much relevance
to the design of a building as the spaces within. The DRU will begin to
explore how human interaction can impact a landscape and become
a process that could form a landscape. It will explore the way mankind
moves across or inhabits the land, creating boundaries and paths that
influence how people experience a landscape.

‘Managed Landscape’- ‘Britain is a landscape altered by man. There

is very little, if anything, that remains untouched and primitive within
it, and its sense of place has been generated as much by the hand of
man as by the way in which nature has responded to the management
of the land.’ (1)

The explorations of the various landscapes documented in this study

have given me a greater understanding of the sensual relationship that
man has with the land. As well as the form and space, the atmospheres
created through the natural processes, such as weather, can influence
our perception of a landscape.

Using photography to document the experience of the studied land-

scapes, it is possible to identify a common emotive response to the
landscape. Through this documentation, varying factors that contribute
to this response can be recognized.

Leading on from the personal landscape studies I will further discuss

ideas of disorientation and the factors that influence an emotive re-
sponse. The study will investigate the expression of disorientation in
other mediums, including fine art, sculpture and architecture. Within
these fields a comparison can be drawn between factors such as scale,
rhythm, route and colour.

The feeling of disorientation whilst in a landscape can be identified as

a common response that is dictated not only by the form but also the
atmosphere of the landscape. Disorientation is a lack of mental aware-
ness as to one’s placement and to one’s direction. The simple loss of
these basic elements is enough to leave a person alone and confused,
in a state of abandonment.
An Occupied Landscape

The first study that began to explore

the idea of disorientation within a
landscape was Tentsmuir beach. The
study set out to explore the relation-
ship between mankind and nature,
observing the impact of nature on
objects placed by man in the land-
scape and equally mans impact on
the landscape. The shell study places
shells found on the beach into the
sand. Standing upright in the sand,
the shells defy nature. They become
animated as the sea washes them
away. The shell appears to be float-
ing, almost fish like, questioning our
understanding of nature.

Objects that have been abandoned

on the beach in themselves evoke a
feeling of disengagement as they ap-
pear lost in the vast open space. The
photographs begin to explore ideas
of scale and isolation. The disused fish
crates are exposed to nature, creat-
ing an unfamiliar context.

Deliberately creating a feeling of

disorientation through the composition
or subject of a photograph is different
from using a photograph to record the
feeling that is experienced. Certain
factors/ methods can be applied to
photography to create this effect,
such as lack of scale in a photograph,
perspective, use of repetition and
colour.
Traversing The Landscape

The next study recalls a trip to Salar De Uyuni in Bolivia, the pho-
tographs begin to convey the atmosphere experienced whilst
in the landscape. The Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the
world at around 4000 sq. miles. The salt flats are visited every
year by thousands of tourists during the winter, the evidence of
human existence is seen through the tracks that are left by the
jeeps that take the four day tour every week. Every year these
tracks disappear during the rainy season and are re-forged
again in the winter. They act as a navigational tool for the drivers
and illustrate the absence of civilisation in this desolate land-
scape.

The tourists who come to view the untouched landscape impact

its character in doing so. Every year nature takes its course and
the flats return to their original state.

The lines left in the landscape could be viewed from above as

form making and the marks they create as they weave across
the flats are a direct result of the process of travelling across the
flats. The tracks offer direction for the driver, but create confu-
sion for the unfamiliar tourist as they intertwine across the barren
landscape.

Whilst travelling across the Salt Flats, the tracks offer some relief
from the isolation; man’s presence becomes a comfort in the
vast landscape. When the time comes to explore further on foot
you are overcome by the silence of remoteness. It is difficult
to comprehend how the atmosphere of the place would have
been before tourism. The emotions experienced would be mag-
nified to an unimaginable extent.
The early work of Richard Long looks at the process of mark making on the land-
scape and engraving a history or character similar to the salt flats. His work begins
to free sculpture from the constraints of scale. “I could make a sculpture which
surrounded an area of 2,401 square miles ... by almost doing nothing, just walking
and cycling.”(2) Long pioneered vast acts of mark making that explored what he
called “relationships between time, distance, geography and measurement” (3).
Long’s innovation for creating sculpture of the landscape was controversial at the
time when Land artists such as Robert Smithson were using nature as an artistic
material to modify the landscape such as Spiral Jetty, Utah 1970.

Similar to the study of the salt flats Long’s photographs depict his process of mark
making. However Long uses three different methods to record his walks: in maps,
photographs or text works, using whichever form is the most appropriate for each
different idea. These forms are the distillation of the experience.

In Scotland in 1986, he tramped a circle into wet grass. The resulting photograph
records the trace of an unspecific human body moving through space and time,
causing temporary dents in the landscape. The removal of the figure disguises the
scale of the piece.

The circular form of Long’s walk doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. This cre-
ates confusion and restricts the viewer from focusing on any one point within the
photo. The eye follows the circle around the image almost allowing the viewer to
sense the feeling of disorientation experienced by Long as a result of walking in a
circle.
Distorted senses

Leading on from the idea of capturing the experience of disorientation and disen-
gagement in the landscape this study includes a series of images depicting the
local landscape around Kirby-le-Soken after a period of heavy snow. Snow be-
comes a homogenizing element. The characteristics of the landscape have been
transformed. Man’s impact on the land has been temporarily disguised. Familiar
pathways, boundaries and landmarks are difficult to identify, creating a feeling of
disorientation. This transformation has happened over a short period of time, a brief
demonstration of nature’ strength, highlighting the competition between humanity
and nature creating an underlying sense of imminent danger.
Similarly to the salt flats, the snow study emphasizes mans dependence on paths.
Subconsciously following a familiar route through a landscape. Bart Cassiman
describes our reliance on memory and familiarity within a landscape, “If all traces
of human activity were erased from the earth, all men would lose their doings, for
want of metaphors; the first dances and dramas would proceed in a frenzy of dis-
order, bereft of memory, until men’s feet had trodden out the venerable path, the
earliest tracing of the temple.” (4)
To further examine the relationship between nature and man a study is carried out using
a process to create a landscape. Similarly to the natural environment, various processes
take place to form the landscape that we inhabit. Along with natural process the deliber-
ate impact of man on the naturally formed landscape alter its characteristics.

The sand passes through a series of holes. The holes are set up on a grid. The varying
factors being the size of the grid and the diameter of the holes, the aim of the experi-
ment is to create a form by changing these factors, the outcome being unintentional. The
second part of the experiment investigates placing architectural forms and allowing the
sand to create a landform around them. Similar to the snow covered landscape I will ob-
serve the change in character that a natural process can have on a man made object.

As the sand passes through the holes it creates a landform, this could be described as
a natural process. However man has generated the grid that has dictated the landform,
suggesting that the result of the process is a man made landscape. The resultant land-
form contains factors that encourage an emotive response to landscapes observed in
the previous studies. The lack of scale, repetition and absence of life all affect the visual
engagement, further contributing to the sense of disorientation, albeit on a visual rather
than physical level.

The introduction of an architectural form to this landscape contradicts the factors of

disorientation observed previously. It begins to question scale, breaks the repetition and
suggests human intervention. Referring back to the snow study it is possible to compare
the two studies through discussing the atmospheric and spatial transformation an envi-
ronment has when effected by a natural process. Unlike the snow study the viewer isn’t
exposed to changes in atmosphere, such as temperature, which heightens their sensual
experience. They are however witnessing visual and physical changes to the architec-
tural forms and the spaces between them. The forms are no longer placed on a planar
surface but sit within an undulating landscape.

Similarly to the Snow study the space between the forms have been transformed by a
homogeneous element. This affects both the physical and visual relationship between the
objects, creating a sense of unfamiliarity for the viewer. This suggests that the viewer was
familiar with the pre-sand covered space. In comparison to the experience of the snow-
covered landscape, a very familiar landscape ingrained in my memory, the viewer has
never seen this space before. Suggesting that memory plays a significant part in how we
perceive a space. In this case, the stronger the memory, the stronger the reaction to the
transformation.
Visual Perception

The factors that promote the feeling

of disorientation can be identified in
other mediums. The painting ‘Albumin,
Human, Glycated’, by artist Damien
Hirst depicts a series of ‘Dots’ on a
white background. The dots are laid
out on a grid. This grid allows the eye
to move constantly in all directions
around the painting. Enhanced by
the fact that each dot on the paint-
ing has a different colour, restricting
the viewer from identifying any pat-
tern and creating a subliminal sense
of unease. The white background is
a visual block that won’t allow the
viewer to see past the dots. The lack
of scale, use of colour and repetition
within the painting are all factors that
can contribute to our sense of disori-
entation within a landscape. This feel-
ing is aroused purely by visual means.
Unlike a landscape other factors of
environment and atmosphere are not
influencing our reactions.
‘Albumin, Human, Glycated’, engages
the viewer on a visual level, this use
of optical illusion was first explored in
the 1960s by artist Bridget Riley. Riley
produced optically vibrant paintings
that actively engage the viewer’s sen-
sations and perceptions, producing
visual experiences that are complex
and challenging. Unlike Hirst’s paint-
ing, Riley is fundamentally interested
in how the eye travels across the
painting in a controlled way. For Riley,
“The eye may wander over the paint-
ing’s surface in a way similar to that
by which it wanders over nature. It
should feel caressed, experience fric-
tion and rupture; it should glide and
drift…one moment it being nothing it
can see, the canvas appearing full,
the next, presenting a host of visual
occurrences.” (5)

Riley’s investigation into how the eye

moves across the painting could be
compared to how the eye moved
across the snow-covered landscape,
unable to recognise familiar land-
marks, therefore disrupting our visual
navigation.
Physical Disengagement

The sculptor Richard Serra creates large installations on the landscape. These
large Cor-Ten steel sculptures emphasise materiality. Unlike Hirst’s paintings they
create spaces to engage with the viewer and the surrounding context. ‘Sidewind-
er’ consists of monolithic blades of steel, which react to the environment, creating
a microclimate, further enhancing the transition of moving through the sculpture.
Similarly to Riley’s paintings, the large-scale walls convey to the viewer a dyna-
mistic force, physically drawing them in. As the walls close in on each other the
space tightens to restrict the view of the sky. The imposing walls create a feeling
of disengagement, restricting any relation to the familiar context. Once released
from the constraint of the sculpture the viewer is forced to re-orientate themselves
within their surroundings.
Similar to Richard Serra’s work Antony
Gormley’s ‘Blind Light’ alters the environ-
ment that we inhabit to create a space
that affects our sensual awareness. The
installation consists of a luminous glass
room filled with a dense cloud of mist. As
the visitor enters the room they become
disoriented by the visceral experience
of fully saturated air. Limiting the visibility
to less than two feet creates a sense of
vulnerability. This challenges the visitor’s
sense of space and their physical rela-
tionship to others within it. In Gormley’s
words:

“Architecture is supposed to be the loca-

tion of security and certainty about where
you are. It is supposed to protect you
from the weather, from darkness, from
uncertainty. Blind Light undermines all of
that. You enter this interior space that is
the equivalent of being on top of a moun-
tain, or at the bottom of the sea. It is very
important for me that inside it you find the
outside. Also you become the immersed
figure in an endless ground, literally the
subject of the work.” (6)

Gormley suggests that the sense of dis-

orientation in ‘Blind Light’ is due to the
unexpected change in atmosphere and
the restriction of vision. The previously
observed factors that cause disorienta-
tion included scale, colour and repetition,
these factors deceive a person’s visual
coordination. Unlike Serra’s sculpture, by
restricting vision completely, Gormley
creates disengagement between the
body and the senses.
Similarly to Serra and Gormley’s work The
Jewish Museum in Berlin by Daniel Libeskind
engages the user on a physical and psycho-
logical level. The building aims to encapsu-
late the memory of the Holocaust through the
feeling of displacement as the user experi-
ences the fragmented journey. Libeskind
describes his design process “I’m interested in
the dreamlike and almost invisible progress of
the relationship of Architecture to the human
soul.” (7)

From the entrance a staircase leads under-

ground to reveal the labyrinthine circula-
tion. This subterranean warren leads out to
the ‘Garden of Exile’, an outdoor forest of
20ft tall concrete slabs representing the exile
of Jews from Germany. Arranged on a grid
the repeated forms create a similar sense of
confusion to Damien Hirst’s ‘Albumin, Human,
Glycated’, an absence of reference points re-
stricts the viewer from orientating themselves
within the space. The sloping ground surface
creates an unsettling feeling of nausea, like
being on a boat, a physical sensation of how
unsettling it is to be in exile.

Throughout the museum the sense of disorien-

tation is exaggerated through fractured views
of both spaces within and outside the mu-
seum. Libeskind has succeeded in creating a
building that engages the visitor, rather than
creating a museum to solely contain objects.
The building evokes emotions that are remi-
niscent of the Holocaust.

Conclusion
From the outset the intention of this research is to explore the fragile
relationship that exists between man and nature. Developing a series of
studies that explore this premise and illustrate a greater understanding
of the delicate balance they share within their landscapes. The study
began by analyzing how man-made objects placed in the land can
have an impact on the landscape and demonstrates the nature of the
relationship man has to the place in which he dwells.
Photographs are used to investigate form, space and atmosphere re-
sulting in a range of images that capture the emotive experience that
resulted from each landscape study, fueling a discourse that explores
the factors that influenced each study. Jonathon Crary discusses the
disengaged relationship between a photograph and the experience
that it captures.
“the observers physical and sensory experience is supplanted by the
relations between a mechanical apparatus and a pre-given world of
objective truth.” (8)
of familiar landmarks disrupt the spectator’s visual navigation, height-
ening the feeling of disengagement with that landscape. The second is
recording an existing climatic condition that captures the essence of a
disorientating atmosphere. The empty stillness the snow study commu-
nicates creates a sensation of detachment from that landscape exag-
gerated by the memory of being in that place, similar to the experience
of visiting the Jewish Museum the displacement experienced throughout
the building is designed to appeal to the visitors collected memories of
the Holocaust.
This study has identified factors like scale, perspective, colour and
repetition that can communicate disorientation in a variety of medi-
ums from Hirst’s Dots’ painting to photographs of Tentsmuir beach or the
disengagement a change in temperature and the absence of direction
creates by concealing routes and landmarks under a blanket of snow.
The feeling of disorientation is a relatively new experience brought
about by mans ever-increasing disengagement with the natural land-
scape. The exploration of a landscape under the theme of disorientation
has highlighted the fragile relationship between man and nature on an
emotive and physical level.

The study of objects placed in the landscape at Tentsmuir beach high-

lighted the delicate relationship between humanity and nature, affect-
ing the way humanities inhabits a landscape, dictating the perception
of space. The use of tracks as a means to navigate a landscape is
witnessed in the salt flats of Bolivia, the isolation experienced exagger-
ates our dependence on such devices. This idea is reinforced through
the snow study where the transformation of a familiar landscape disrupts
the visual navigation.

The common theme that emerged as a characteristic of each study

was an overwhelming sensation of disorientation. The disorientation is
communicated in two separate capacities using photography. The first
relates to how the image is composed and similar to the art of Hirst and
Riley it depends on the manipulation of scale, perspective, repetition
and colour to create a feeling of disengagement. The exclusion of phys-
ical form and colour from a photograph makes it difficult to understand
the scale of a landscape. The distortion of perspective and the absence

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in the nineteenth century), USA: MIT Press,1992. p39.
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