31rekitt

8/13/2019 31rekitt

1/14

Drag and Drop - The Compatibility of Existing Landscape

Theories and New Virtual Landscapes

Jrg REKITTKE

Abstract

Landscape is collectively perceived as a synonym for a supposedly untouched nature,naturalness or rusticity. Landscape's association with nature and reality make it seem, atfirst glance, an alternative to, or even the reverse of those phenomena that increasinglyconfront us in our so-called digital age, the nature of whose existence only allows them to

be described as extant in a non-material, virtual form as a possibility. Should thisimpression be confirmed, the dynamics of the perception of landscapes would have arrived

at a terminus marked by the interface between physical reality and non-material virtualreality.The author intends to show that such a terminus need not be feared in the field of landscapeaesthetics. Rather than looking at practical examples, which would show that landscape haslong proved its compatibility with the digital age, the author bases his argument on thetheoretical paradigms that underlie that which we term landscape. In view of the fact thatour digital age has been shaped to a considerable extent by new media, it seems reasonableto consider, in addition to the findings of landscape theory, developments in art and mediatheory.It transpires that landscape, by virtue of its inherent intellectual or virtual nature, is ideallysuited to being experienced and conveyed through digital media. Furthermore, it is evidentthat the new digital technologies are opening up a broad spectrum of activities for the

profession of landscape planners and architects, provided that these are equal to the

challenge.

1 Introduction

Landscape planners and architects are frequently and unfairly reproached for havingdeveloped a profession based on a romanticisation of the past. The reason for this allegationis illustrated by the fact that, as soon as the word landscape is mentioned, the image thatcomes to most people's minds is the clich of a pastoral scenery largely spared mankind'stechnological dominance landscape as a synonym for a supposedly untouched nature,naturalness or rusticity. By contrast, the fact that mankind has actually subordinated hisenvironment on a massive scale, so that the external manifestation of that which we termlandscape today is to a large extent the result of an artificial 'over-forming' by man, is often

ignored.Landscape planning has always been concerned with these over-formed, genuinelandscapes, and thus has always been challenged by actuality, the new and unknown, bothregarding physically real landscapes and the field of theoretical landscape aesthetics.

8/13/2019 31rekitt

2/14

J. Rekittke2

For this reason it may be postulated that landscape planners and landscape architects, farfrom being backward looking and historical as is often supposed, have always needed to beactive in considering the latest societal and technological developments and tendencies inthe way they think and act. This article aims to demonstrate some theoretical approaches

that support this claim.Furthermore, this article seeks to show that that which we collectively term landscape isideally suited to being experienced and conveyed in the technologically generated reality ofdigital media in the form of digital or virtual landscapes.Theoretical considerations often lag behind the facts of reality, and this is particularly truefor the analysis and understanding of the effects that arise from the achievements of the so-called digital age. The half-life of products in the information technology sector is

becoming ever shorter, hence the adage: nothing will be as old tomorrow as the software oftoday.Even the so-called new media, which developed untended behind the back of society, so tospeak, were late in being considered. By the time Marschall McLuhan published hisvisionary book Understanding Media in 1964, there was already a television in everysecond living room. (cf. ENZENSBERGER, 2000).Landscape theory has dedicated itself until now only diffidently to the phenomena of thedigital age. Beyond intimating that we can expect changes in the field of landscapeaesthetics, questions surrounding the reason for these changes have until now remainedlargely unanswered.Gert GRNING (1998) recognises this deficit and formulates in his Kursbuch NeueLandschaften the following challenging question:

What effects, if any, would the greater number of virtual landscapes anticipated incyberspace in future have on the attendance and perception of that which others regard asreal landscapes, for example? But then, who wants to think in such [...] media-based termswhen creating a landscape, let alone make them the basis of their planning activities?

2 Landscape as a media product

The crucial step in the direction of a collective European understanding of landscapes wastaken at the moment in which landscape received a visual, media-based facet through art.Only the reflection of landscape in a visual medium enabled, over the course of time, a

broader social base to develop the notion of a landscape.It can be shown that landscape was inextricably linked with media from the very hour of itsintellectual and social inception the collective perception of landscape was first rendered

possible through media such as poetic language, the written word and panel painting; thecollective landscape view was first opened up through a technical interface.The painter Claude-Gelle, known as Claude Lorrain, whose paintings implanted the imageof landscape described in Latin poetry permanently in the European consciousness, is

largely credited with having created the classical landscape genre, and is to be thanked forhaving elevated landscapes to a genre equal to historical painting (cf. HONOUR & FLEMING,1999).

8/13/2019 31rekitt

3/14

The Compatibility of Existing Landscape Theories and New Virtual Landscapes 3

Fig. 1: The Father of Psyche brings Apollo a Sacrifice, Claude Lorrain (circa 1660-1670), Canvas, 175x223 cm (HONOUR& FLEMING1999)

Lorrain contributed to the shaping of the ideal landscape in art, composing idealisedlandscapes as background or scenery according to strictly rational principles (Fig. 1) thusemerged the idyllic landscape genre (cf. LUCIE-SMITH, 1990).The painter Nicolas Poussin may be named in the same breath as Lorrain he also helpedsubsequent generations right down to today's landscape planners and architects towardsa lasting association with the Arcadian motif. Arcadia, in this case, is not the geographicalregion of Arcadia in ancient Greece but rather a metaphor for an imaginary land of longingand illusions, where all worries and wants of everyday life are forgotten in the experienceof the beauty of nature. In his painting of 1629-30 Et in Arcadia Ego (Fig. 2), shepherdsare portrayed reading the inscription Et in Arcadia Ego upon a sarcophagus. This may betranslated as Even I death am in Arcadia. No ancient sources for this inscription have

been found, thus it is thought that Poussin himself was the author (cf. HONOUR & FLEMING,1999).

8/13/2019 31rekitt

4/14

J. Rekittke4

Fig. 2: Et in Arcadia Ego, NicolasPoussin (circa 1629/1630),Canvas, 101 x 82 cm (HONOUR&FLEMING1999)

Lorrain and Poussin created landscapesymbols and in so doing made a crucialcontribution to the historical development ofa consciousness in which nature was

transfigured as a landscape as a realm ofbeauty beyond everyday

The medium of Lorrain and Poussin waspainting, their interface was the canvass onwhich they painted in oils. Although fromtoday's standpoint we would classify thismedium as classical, and although thelandscapes painted in the 17th centuryappear especially timeless, it should not beoverlooked that painters such as Lorrain andPoussin created something new, evenexperimental, for their time.life.

Pictures conveyed by today's digital new media possess the special power of being able toawaken in the observer the impression of dealing with authentic images, images that reflect

reality, even though what they are seeing may have been to a large extent artificiallygenerated or manipulated (Fig. 3). Compared to the palette of the classical painter, or a filmdirector's analogue cutting room, today's software-based tools for creating and manipulatingimages represent no less than a magic box of tricks.

Fig. 3: Cyberfee FiFi, which was advertising for SONY-Playstation. Right before, leftafter the digital distortion of the real model (GIESEN & MEGLIN 2000)

8/13/2019 31rekitt

5/14

8/13/2019 31rekitt

6/14

J. Rekittke6

portrays not a real landscape, but is rather a representation reminiscent of or optically indis-tinguishable from familiar landscape scenes (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5: Computer Generated Fantasy Landscape, Software Bryce 4 (CORELCorporation)

Clearly, differences will remain between the direct perception of real landscapes and theperception of representations of landscapes. Some considerations by Walter Benjamin onthe subject of the reproducibility of works of art go some way towards clarifying thisfundamental difference. If we consider both natural, untouched landscapes and landscapescreated by man as works of art a picturesque, as if painted, surface of ground which may

be viewed as work of art (cf. HARD, 1991), then Walter BENJAMIN's expositions (2000 [Ori-ginal 1936]) appear as a key to understanding the specific aesthetic effects of landscaperepresentations whether be are genuine or artificially generated landscapes:

Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element:its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to

be. [...]The situations into which the product of mechanical reproduction can be brought

may not touch the actual work of art, yet the quality of its presence is alwaysdepreciated. This holds not only for the art work but also, for instance, for alandscape which passes in review before the spectator in a movie. In the case of theart object, a most sensitive nucleus namely, its authenticity is interfered withwhereas no natural object is vulnerable on that score. The authenticity of a thing isthe essence of all that is transmissible from its beginning, ranging from itssubstantive duration to its testimony to the history which it has experienced. Sincethe historical testimony rests on the authenticity, the former, too, is jeopardized by

reproduction when substantive duration ceases to matter. And what is reallyjeopardized when the historical testimony is affected is the authority of the object.

8/13/2019 31rekitt

7/14


One might subsume the eliminated element in the term aura and go on to say: thatwhich withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art.This is a symptomatic process whose significance points beyond the realm of art.

3 Landscape as a synthesis product

Petrarch, thanks to records of his historical ascent of Mont Ventoux in 1336, is generallyconsidered to be the first to view nature consciously as landscape though he did not knowthe term and did not use it explicitly thereby introducing a new perspective to the conceptof nature that predominated in the philosophy and science of the time. Rather than climbingthe mountain out of necessity, Petrarch dedicated himself to this gruelling enterprise purely

because it was his wish. The novelty of the motive viewing nature for reasons ofenjoyment is reflected in the incomprehension of a shepherd whom Pertrarch en-countered, and who was unable to fathom why anybody would climb a mountain withouthaving a practical reason for doing so.

In the field of landscape aesthetics it is generally assumed that landscape is generatedthrough a process of synthesis in the human mind separate perceived objects in nature arecollated in a synthesis by the all-embracing term landscape (cf. KRAUSE & KLPPEL, 1991).Landscape does not exist as an individual element; only the mental composite of separatelandscape elements may be described as a landscape.Here we find first indications of a parallel to the process of synthesis which allows us to

perceive a landscape namely the synthesis processes found in information technology,whose perceivable results are a composite of individual parts information which ontheir own are meaningless.

4 Landscape as virtual reality

When people refer to a landscape, they are talking about something that conjures upspecifically individual images in the mind of the conversation participants. According toLucius Burckhardt, landscapes are to be sought not in the nature of things but in our ownminds. Landscape is a construct that serves the perception of a society that no longer livesdirectly from the earth. (cf. BURCKHARDT, 1978). Landscape may be understood as acollective heritage that results from the ability of the Roman poets, late-renaissance paintersand English landscape gardeners to depict landscapes (cf. BURCKHARDT, 1978).Through the continuing estrangement of technologically advanced nations from theirnatural environment and the intensive consumption of visual media, landscapes are veryoften perceived in a filtered form primed for the media. In this manner, observed nature isexperienced by people not first-hand but second or third-hand.Second-hand experience of landscape is, for example, a landscape that is filmed through acamera and shown on television. An example of a third-hand landscape experience may be

found in a situation in which an observer recognises a computer-generated scene visualisedin three-dimensional form as a landscape, although a direct connection to nature, such as atelevision camera would form, is lacking.Due to landscape's essential characteristic of demonstrating a collective heritage, theobserver is able to perceive landscapes second or third-hand and recognise them as

8/13/2019 31rekitt

8/14

J. Rekittke8

landscapes even without a direct connection to nature. The valency of such perception oflandscapes will not be explored here, suffice it to say that at the moment in which anobserver identifies or interprets something as a landscape, a landscape is present in themind of the observes and therefore exists (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6: A virtual landscape: Last section of a Fuji-Film negative strip, original size24x36 mm (Photo: Jrg Rekittke)

It seems necessary, in today's digital age, to formulate a broader understanding of landscapethat considers and integrates all possible forms of landscape perception, and according towhich landscape is recognised as everything that can be collectively identified, interpretedand described as a landscape, even without a direct connection to nature. Even a digitallygenerated virtual landscape, recognised and described by the perceiver as a landscape, is,on an intellectual level, a landscape.

Landscape must be understood as non-material property, which arises from the sum of amultitude of perceived factors. Thus landscape is the result of the same aesthetic processthat takes place in the perception of technologically generated virtual reality.Virtual reality is remarkable because it is interpreted by the perceiver not as a secondaryrepresentation or reproduction of an object, but as a special form of primary reality. VR-technology is able to create a perfect illusion that allows the observer to experience therepresentation as reality (Fig. 7).

8/13/2019 31rekitt

9/14


Fig. 7: A phobia patient, after the use of a therapeutic VR-installation, is capable ofovercoming, in reality, her fear for bridges (SMOLAN& ERWITT1998)

Technologically generated virtual reality must be understood as a three-dimensional, real-time interaction with a computer model. VR is based on two aspects: first, the immersionthrough which the illusion is created in the observer, or operator, with the help ofstereoscopy, eye-movement tracking and other techniques, that he is within a world that,though admittedly computer-generated, he perceives as reality; second, navigation the

possibility of manoeuvring oneself within the perceived computer model (cf. RHEINGOLD,1992). VR refers to the entire hardware and software employed to provide the user with athree-dimensional input/output space in which he is actively implicated, and in which hecan interact with autonomous objects in real time at any moment. VR allows people to viewartificial worlds from within and as a part of themselves the interface between people andartificial reality is diminishing for the human consciousness (cf. RTZER, 1993). Whileimmersed in virtual reality, doubts about the artificiality in the mind of the perceiver arecompletely suppressed the total suspension of disbelief [...] (DELEON & BERRY, 2000).

Landscapes may also be interpreted as a perfect illusion if one robs the mental constructlandscape of all its imaginary and illusionary components, only the perceived subject nature in the broadest sense remains.

5 Landscape as a means of enjoyment

As indicated above, the ability of the observer to consume from a distance the view ofnature with pleasure, be it first, second or third hand, is an essential prerequisite forlandscape perception.It comes therefore as no surprise that the most advanced digitally generated representationsof landscapes are found in the cinema or as a backdrop for countless trivial computer

games. The leisure aspect' of the perception of landscapes provides an interface to therecreational and consumerist habits of legions of computer gamers, who fight their waythrough landscapes of varying degrees of imaginativeness with an array of martial-lookingweapons and tools.

8/13/2019 31rekitt

10/14

J. Rekittke10

Landscape is entering the alternative worlds of virtual reality by a 'trivial route', therebydemonstrating its potential for effect as non-material property and proving the scope for theimaginative development of landscapes perceived 'third-hand' (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8: Scene from the computer game Supreme Snowboarding (Photo: Infogrames)

The techniques of representation used by film and games designers can be picked up on,

developed and implemented for professional planning purposes the prerequisite for this issimply a general openness and willingness on the side of planning professions to break themould of conventional thought. It is to be hoped that we will not leave these future designchallenges regarding new landscapes in alternative realities to the Hollywood studios,multinational advertising companies or the throngs of amateurs, but that we will acceptthem as a new sphere of professional activity and exploit them as a multiplier of landscape

philosophy.

6 Discussion

Should not the field of landscape planning and architecture take heed of its tradition andconventional tools and limit itself to acting in material reality under consideration ofrecognised values? Does not dealing with natural resources categorically exclude the possi-

bility of dealing with completely artificial environments? Are not nature and reallandscapes the very opposite of computer technology and virtual reality? Do not theartificial worlds of the digital age appear a poor substitute, devoid of content, for materialreality?

8/13/2019 31rekitt

11/14


These and similar questions arise when classically trained landscape planners and architectsenter the indefinable and uncertain territory of computer-generated virtual reality. Twoterms, supplement and extension, are particularly appropriate for qualifying theseissues and justifiable doubts, though they cannot answer or eliminate them completely.

The new technological possibilities of the digital age only rarely form a completesubstitute, but the possibilities for supplementation and extension in almost all professionaland private areas of activity seem virtually inexhaustible. Researchers have responded tothis feature of digital technology by supplementing the term 'Virtual Reality' with the termAugmented Reality (cf. ARVIKA, 2000). In order not to have to compose tearful farewellletters to reality, the term Expanded Reality also provides a useful alternative (cf.ZIELINSKI, 1993).

Augmented Reality implies the possibilities opened up by the supplementaryimplementation of digital technologies. As members of the landscape planning professionsare not experienced in the avant-garde adaptation of new technologies, we must allow ourimagination and creativity to be inspired by the examples of other professions. Groundworkin the research and application of AR technology has been carried out in military, medicaland industrial fields in particular in the automotive and aerospace industries.

The soldier of the future will be increasingly networked, his capacity for perception andfighting ability will be increased through numerous hi-tech components, but he will stillhave to be above-averagely fit and his business will be no less bloody than before (Fig. 9).

The doctor of the future will act increasingly in cyberspace, his hands and eyes will becomplemented technologically in a variety of ways extended, as Marshall McLuhanwas wont to describe it (cf. MCLUHAN, 1995 [Original 1964]). Nonetheless, operations willcontinue to be performed on living people, and, as technology can fail, conventionalmethods must continue to be mastered (Fig. 10).

Fig. 9: Future Warrior 2025, Study -U.S. Army (Photo: SBC COMONLINE)

Fig. 10: Surgery in Cyber space. Work in theresearch laboratory "Surgical

Research Unit OP 2000" of theRobert-Rssle-Klinik at MaxDelbrck Center (MDC), Charite,Berlin. (Photo: Robert-Rssle-Klinik)

8/13/2019 31rekitt

12/14

J. Rekittke12

Vehicles of the future will possibly see and monitor much more than the driver.Navigation, traffic flow, early warning and 'smart' braking systems, to say the least, willbecome standard fittings on every vehicle. Yet road traffic will continue to pose risks andthere will continue to be traffic jams and accidents but in some circumstances problems

will be able to be solved more easily than is possible today (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11: Print media advertisement for the Telematik-System BMW ASSIST plus, thatin addition to a navigation system presents a broad scope of information(SPIEGEL50/2000)

Landscape planners and architects are also fighters of a kind, not in a military but in anecological sense. At the same time they are doctors, in a figurative sense; though they donot perform operations out on people, they must nonetheless intervene in the process ofnature and landscape with the dexterity and precision of a surgeon. Furthermore, they aremobilists, they must continually move through landscapes in order to perceive them.Landscape planners increasingly need technical assistance in order to understand andinterpret essential factors of nature and landscape that are not visible from the surface.

We can see that new and emerging technologies may be implemented to the advantage of

nature and landscapes. In order to ensure their compatibility however, our profession mustbe prepared to keep up to date with current developments in the field of digital technologyand, if necessary, develop solutions tailored to its needs. This requirement supplements andextends the classical professions of landscape planners and architects, without calling into

8/13/2019 31rekitt

13/14


question their conventional areas of activity or their necessary knowledge of nature andlandscape.

7 Conclusion

We opened this article with reference to the frequently voiced criticism that landscapeplanners and architects have developed a profession based on a romanticisation of the past.In closing, we can note that this reproach is not just unfounded exceptions confirm therule but can also be disproved in the light of theoretical considerations. Since the

beginnings of a collective perception of nature in terms of landscape, landscape has stoodfor something that has nothing to do with conservatism or static thinking, on the contrary something that has always required the mould of conventional thought and patterns to be

broken. That Petrarch was an experimental, avant-garde thinker is shown in his perceptionof landscape otherwise he would just have observed nature, as did his contemporaries,without ever reaching the intellectual level of landscape contemplation.

History has shown that the perception of landscapes is inherently dynamic and future-oriented not just due to its relation to nature, which is never static. Today, areas that onceappeared the antithesis of a landscape are now merited as idyllic scenery (cf. D INNEBIER,1995). Take, for example, the industrial landscape of the Ruhr area, which according to ourcurrent social values has been recoded from a desolate terrain to a new type of landscapeideal (cf. MILCHERT, 1998).

In the dawning post-industrial digital age of humankind as well, landscape is proving itscontemporary potential. Landscape images of reality seamlessly cross over into thealternative worlds of virtual reality, where they can develop further in as yet inconceivableways. In this manner, then, the landscape is playing out its central characteristic that of

being in essence a purely intellectual, virtual, synthetic product. Landscape is virtuality.

So in fact, what could be more topical or future-oriented than that which we termlandscape?

8 References

ARVIKA Konsortium (2000):Augmented Reality fr Entwicklung, Produktion und Service.Internet: http://www.arvika.de/www/d/topic5/flyer.htm.

Benjamin, W. (2000): Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit.Suhrkamp Verlag , Frankfurt a. M. (in German).

Burckhardt, L. (1978): Indirekt zitiert nach Krause, C. L. & D. Klppel (1991): Synopse derMethoden zur Erfassung des Landschaftsbildes. Aachen (in German).

COREL Corporation: http://www.corel.com/support/ftpsite/pub/Bryce/4/index.htm.DeLeon, V.J. & H.R. Berry (2000): Virtual Florida Everglades. Internet: http://digitalo.

com/deleon/vrglades/#.Dinnebier, A. (1995):Landschaft sehen. Garten + Landschaft, 9: 1823 (in German).

8/13/2019 31rekitt

14/14

J. Rekittke14

Enzensberger, von, H.M. (2000): Das digitale Evangelium. Der Spiegel, 2: 92-101 (inGerman).

Giesen, R. & C. Meglin (2000): Knstliche Welten. Tricks, Special Effects undComputeranimation im Film von den Anfngen bis heute. Europa Verlag, Hamburg,

Wien.Grning, G. (1998):Die Suche nach der Landschaftsmitte. In: Michel, K.M., I. Karsunke

& T. Spengler (Editors): Neue Landschaften. Rowohlt, Berlin, pp. 55-69 (=Kursbuch,Heft 131) (in German).

Hard, G. (1991): Landschaft als professionelles Idol. Garten + Landschaft, 3: 13-18 (inGerman).

Honour, H. & J. Fleming (1999): Weltgeschichte der Kunst. Prestel, Mnchen. (inGerman).

Infogrames: http://www.de.infogrames.com/ www/supreme/deutsch/pages/fr.html.Krause, C.L. & D. Klppel (1991): Synopse der Methoden zur Erfassung des

Landschaftsbildes. Aachen (in German).Lange, E. (1999): Wie real sind virtuelle Landschaften? Garten + Landschaft, 11: 14-17 (in

German).Lucie-Smith, E. (1990): DuMonts Lexikon der Bildenden Kunst. DuMont Buchverlag,

Kln. (in German).McLuhan, M. (1964): Die magischen Kanle. Understanding Media. Verlag der Kunst,

Dresden (= Fundus Bcher 127). (in German).Milchert, J. (1998): Von der neuen Poesie der Industrielandschaft. Stadt und Grn, 11:

800-804 (in German).SBC COM ONLINE: http://www.natick.army.mil/warrior/00/janfeb/future_warfighter.htmRekittke, J. (2001):Landschaft 1.0. Errterung der theoretischen Eignung von Landschaft,

in der digital generierten Virtuellen Realitt dargestellt, vermittelt und erlebt zu

werden. Dissertation, Aachen 2001.Rheingold, H. (1992): Virtuelle Welten. Reisen im Cyberspace. Rowohlt, Hamburg. (in

German).Riel, van, P. (2000): Lucca in Osaka. Schutzwall aus Zuschauerrngen - das Stadiondorf.

Bauwelt, 30/31: 26-27.Robert-Rssle-Klinik: http://jota.rrk-berlin.de/op2000/Deutsch/Gallerie/3.htmlRtzer, F. (1993): Einleitung. In: Rtzer, F. & P. Weibel (Editors): Cyberspace. Zum

medialen Gesamtkunstwerk. Boer Verlag, Mnchen, pp. 9-14 (in German).Smolan, R. & J. Erwitt (1998): One Digital Day. How the Microchip is Changing Our

World. Times Books, Random House, Against All Odds Productions, New York.Zielinski, S. (1993): Expanded Reality. In: Rtzer, F. & P. Weibel (Editors): Cyberspace.

Zum medialen Gesamtkunstwerk. Boer Verlag, Mnchen, pp. 47-64 (in German).

31rekitt

Documents