about the relation artwork - green environment
motivation - which approach?
The ways the relation between art and landscape are understood can be devided in three categories:
* The sculpture as marking of the space.
* The environment as green decor of the sculpture.
* Sculpture and green environment have a symbiotic relation and intensify each other.
Marcelle van Bemmel’s prefers the last option. She did that in the following art projects:
Triciput, Heemstede 1996, La Ceinture d’Orion, La Pommerie, France 1997
Bemol, Hoek van Holland 1999, Loos Weer, Heusden 2000, A Mont st. Victoire, Drulon, France, Cyclope, Drulon, France 2002, Nu was toen later Rotterdam 2005, Leasure space Blijdorp Zoo Rotterdam 2007
history - some examples
For many centuries sculptures have been positioned in outdoor spaces. However, its purpose and the way it was understood have changed continuously.
In antique times sculptures of vegetation gods were situated at the edge of a garden, aiming to protect the crops. A boundary post with the head of the god Priapus should stimulate fertility. Art as magic - magic as art.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth century gardens were seen as an extention of architecture. Hedges were the boundaries of strictly measured spaces which were called "chambers" and the sculptures inside those rooms were considered furniture. All the ornamnents had a symbolic meaning and represented the vision of life of the owner. Man as the ruler of nature.
IIn the eighteenth century "natural" parks were preferred. Ingeniously constructed brooks and waterfalls replaced fountains and in follies, fake ruins and shell caves sculptures had a mere decorative function. Nature romanticised.
In the nineteenth century the sculptures themselves were supposed to play a more natural role: instead of the goddess Diana or a faun the visitor would encounter a bronze hunter with his dogs or a startled deer in stone. Art as illustration of the landscape.
In the midst of the twentieth century it became fashion to place abstract sculptures at the top of a sloping hill, with trees in the background. A green scenery to make the artwork stand out.
Land-art came with the sixtees. The artists worked on a grand scale and often used materials provided by the land itself: soil, rocks, life trees. Thus the art and landscape were inseparable. At first the works often reminded us of neolithic landmarks and mazes but eventually more contemporary solutions were chosen.
Nowadays artworks ar often seen along freeways and on roundabouts. Art as point of orientation.