Incorporating the Critical: Environmental Art's Vitality
INCORPORATING THE CRITICAL: ENVIRONMENTAL ART’S VITALITY IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE by ALLEN PRATT (Under the Direction of Katherine Melcher) ABSTRACT The realms of art and landscape architecture are inherently in a state of overlap, juxtaposition, and reference of one another. This suggests art’s importance in the development and understanding of landscape architecture. This thesis examined environmental art’s potential to be used as an explorative design process to generate new ideas and perspectives. It used a series of environmental art case studies, including the author’s own installation in the Founders Memorial Garden, to investigate environmental art’s value to the study and practice of contemporary landscape architecture. This study revealed that the boundaries between the spatial disciplines of art, architecture, and landscape architecture are artificial and that these boundaries can be dissolved in practice. It concluded that environmental art possesses the ability to alter perceptions of space and place, generate new ideas and perspectives, and enhance the human condition to address issues of site, sight, and insight. INDEX WORDS: landscape architecture, environmental art, land art, contemporary art, site- specific art, Monet, El Lissitzky, The Garden of the Lost Steps, Mirror Lab, Tree Drawings, Red Ball Project, Founders Memorial Garden, adaptive design, integrative design, design research INCORPORATING THE CRITICAL: ENVIRONMENTAL ART’S VITALITY IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE by ALLEN PRATT Bachelor of Architecture, University
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