Society & Economy

First, there is the absurd story of the Chinese artist commissioned by the emperor to create a landscape for a room in his palace. Once the painting is completed, the emperor is invited to come and examine the work. Delighted by what he discovers, he turns to the painter to congratulate him. But the painter has vanished from the room—he has entered his landscape.

Next is the simple, rhythmic exercise of the Photographic Observatory of Landscape: photographic documentation. Taking photos of a landscape at regular intervals and from the same angle to create series that allow one to appreciate its evolution.

Yet, in the slow succession of stories about representation, the same question inexorably weaves its way through: what is a landscape?

The notion of landscape is the very epitome of an impossible debate, an unidentified verbal object. Yet it is described, framed, and inaugurated, but there is no science of landscape, and there likely never will be.