Joanna Pollner

ART H 309 B

Professor, Marek K Wieczorek

        City dwellers are accustomed to living within concrete parameters of buildings and barren landscapes that frequently pose a sense of entrapment. Urban planning requires proper thoughtful and creative design. Constructing structures should be a process that includes not only developers wanting to profit but engineers, architects and landscape artists equipped with ecological premises bearing in mind the conscientious effort in evoking a healthier experience for the community at large in these living spaces. Rifkin in “ The Age of Resilience ”   discusses the importance of community involvement in the process of rebuilding an autonomous ecosystem that promotes shared benefit of its resources and flourishing within this type of new paradigm. Less exploitation of earth and its inhabitants poses ideas that need to be reinvented or perhaps investigated from a different angle. ^[1]  Reversing a thought pattern or means of action is just what it takes, perhaps akin to Poet Kabir’s verse “ All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop ”. Urban redesigning with nature and gardens should be encouraged to all members of the society, and accessible to all. It is the public space that concerns me and what occupies its vicinity; such as schools, neighborhoods, streets and sidewalks we stroll around should be forested with greens supporting our environment and ecology at large. Artists whose work I found inspiring are Roberto Burle Marx, a landscape architect who was noted for integrating Brazilian native plants and gardens within cities parameters and homes. Burle Marx brought awareness to the local vegetation, maximizing his efforts in rebuilding the flora of Brazil into the urban setting and landscapes. ^[2]

1.                                                                                                 2.

1 Photography by Thomas D. Mcavoy/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.  

2. Roberto Burle Marx (Brazilian, 1909-1994), landscape architect. Sítio Roberto Burle Marx . from 1949. https://jstor.org/stable/community.14695803 .

3. Roberto Burle Marx, (Artist), Brazilian, 1909-1994, and Oscar Niemeyer, (Artist), Brazilian, born 1907. Ibirapuera Park, Project São Paulo, Brazil Site Plan . Drawing date: 1953. Gouache and graphite on board, 39 1/2 x 59 1/2" (100.3 x 151.1 cm). Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). https://jstor.org/stable/community.14648345 .

Another Artist Photographer is Henk Wildschut who created a project called “ Rooted” documenting the landscape of Zaatari Camp Jordan in April 2018, where he learned that plants brought solace to those who are uprooted. Vegetables were grown for practical purposes and alongside Wildschut took photos of planted flowers, this was a communal effort in regaining a sense of a home. ^[3]  The New Yorker magazine published a story pertaining to this objective “ Rooted ”-” The Plants that make refugees feel more at home ” by Caroline Kraft, who notes a comment of one of the volunteers “ You have to realize that refugees aren't walking around feeling sorry for themselves all day. They live normal lives. They are normal people. They are just in a worse living situation.” ^[4] The point here is about adaptation to circumstances through adopting nature as a modality of life and resilience.  Isamu Noguchi ( 1904-1988), 20th century acclaimed sculptor, gardener, landscaper and designer. Noguchi designed playgrounds, gardens implementing his sculptural training. He observed a landscape as a playground, learning from various cultures such as Japan. ^[5]  

Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-. Ref.:Sculpture Garden Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum: Det.: Gen View . n.d. https://jstor.org/stable/community.13591727 .

Camila Berner is an artist that explores urban wastelands, unused city sites and in Korea Seoul organized an exhibition “ Still Alive ” investigating those very sites and their relation to nature plants and flowers. ( Fowkes page 146)

Photo: Pernille Klemp

Maria Thereza Alves is another compelling artist who worked on a project Seeds of Change bringing awareness to seeds that are embedded in our soil traveling on ships which upon arrival in new locations sprout and grow in new lands. Alves investigates and brings awareness to plant life and its travels. ( Fowkes 155)

Maria-Thereza Alves, Brazilian, b. 1961. Exhibition: In Transit . Exhibition: 1/15/1993-4/11/1993. 28 photographs, 28 assorted objects in acrylic. https://jstor.org/stable/community.12109559 .

Additionally my inspiration comes from NYC community gardens, when we think of NYC parks we attribute the city with Central Park, Battery Park or the Cloisters on the upper west side. However NYC has a rich history and culture in preservation of community gardens. The MTA public transit website lists for example Lower East Village Community gardens such as 6BC Botanical Garden, 11th Street Garden and many more. In the 1970’s residents of Lower East Side, Manhattan formed “ Green Gorilas” who would throw seeds into street’s empty lots, grow gardens or plant flowers in these vacant buildings. This action was also known as Loisada representing the Latino sector of the city. ^[6]  These gardens created a sense of a community and magical experience of solace. It was an intentional effort of the community to improve their habitat through gardening. Lorena Galliot from Earth Institute at Columbia University published an article addressing a project involving “ green roofs ” in NYC stating that since most people do not have access to backyards, the city is resorting to rooftop gardens. Recently a research was published showing that green rooftops lowered the carbon emissions in NYC. ^[7]

Photo credit: Sai Mokhtari

Photo credit: Sai Mokhtari

The process of contemplation upon urban landscape intertwined for me with Zaha Hadid an artist architect born in Baghdad, Iraq stated “ I am fascinated by the mind of logic and the abstract “. ^[8]  Hadid’s relationship to architecture, landscape, math and logic were  influenced by Malevich and concepts of movement within architecture and its relation to space. The dimension of a fine balance and harmony within urban space impacts once observation and lures with its gaze for one to care for their environment.

Hadid, Zaha. Vitra Fire Station . 1994. https://jstor.org/stable/community.10789044.

    “ Urban Lotus” is an artwork I decided to contribute to the group. The drawing presents a Lotus growing from an urban ground. The contemplation on plants in relation to the city is something that interests me. Lotus has a unique ability to grow on mud. The ground of the urban setting while polluted, perhaps something organic can grow out of it. In terms of psychological ideas such as grief that our group discussed can be thus transmuted to solace. As climate change accelerates with the help of manmade pollution, if the society is capable of disassembling ecological harmony, likewise it can also be reconstructed back. The end result will not be the same, however a new formation will be present. This process presents itself as the transmutation of the society as one living organism paving the way for new cycles and new creations yet to arise. Challenges thus pose a new frontier of opportunities, dire circumstances of our ecosystem should not inhibit the perception of hope, rather welcome acceptance of possibility of growth just like the Lotus which comes out of murky waters so shall humanity.  

Rifkin quote that resonated with me during this project was “ a rewilding planet will test our collective mettle. Hopefully the journey we are now embarked on in the Age of Resilience will steer us to a new Garden of Eden, but this time not as a master but as a kindred spirit with our fellow creatures with whom we share our earthly home.  “

Rifkin(page7). ^[9]

William Miliken who is a researcher concentrating on bringing plants into human lives has a concept that interested me as well “ Green Walls ” emphasizing the importance of  gardens that bring life into lifeless concrete. ^[10]

 “ Urban Lotus ” drawing on bristol paper

                                                                                                    Joanna Pollner 2023

Bibliography :

1. Rifkin, Jeremy. The Age of Resilience: Reimagining Existence on a Rewilding Earth. United Kingdom: Swift Press, 2022.
2. Fowkes, Maja and Reuben. Art and Climate Change. United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson Limited, 2022.
3. Barnas, Maria. On the Necessity of Gardening: An ABC of Art, Botany and Cultivation. Netherlands: Valiz, 2021.
4. Kries, Mateo. Garden Futures: Designing with Nature. Germany: Vitra Design Museum, 2023. ( Inspiration )
5. Habitat: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet. United Kingdom: Harry N. Abrams, 2017. ( Inspiration )

Websites as sources:

1. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-plants-that-make-refugee-camps-feel-more-like-home
2. http://www.mariatherezaalves.org/works/seeds-of-change?c=
3. https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2012/04/24/theres-no-one-size-fits-all-green-roof-studies-show/
4. https://www.tclf.org/pioneer/roberto-burle-marx
5. https://www.noguchi.org/isamu-noguchi/biography/biography/
6. https://away.mta.info/articles/community-garden-guide-nyc-east-village-alphabet-city-loisaida/
7. https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/01/05/new-york-citys-greenery-absorbs-a-surprising-amount-of-its-carbon-emissions/