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Groundswell: Constructing the Contemporary LandscapeThey reclaim the wastelands.
The evidence unfolds powerfully in "Groundswell: Constructing the Contemporary Landscape" at New York City's Museum of Modern Art. Remarkably, the exhibition is the pre-eminent design museum's first serious commentary on landscape design in its 76-year history.
Traditionalists, take note: Boxwood doesn't grow here. "Groundswell" springs from the grit and failures of 20th-century urbanization. Putrid landfills, derelict industrial plants, boarded-up buildings, seedy waterfronts and barren rooftops have scarred neighborhoods and degraded potentially vital public spaces. War and terrorism have left their own rubble-strewn legacies.
Curator Peter Reed seeks to make a case that visionary design arises from just such situations. He canvassed the world and culled 23 earth-moving, pollutant-defying and only occasionally contrived projects, represented in this show by supersize photos, models and video.
All were undertaken in the past 20 years. They represent what Reed calls "new urban public landscapes," strategically created places that did not exist as such only half a generation ago.
Cities everywhere are grappling with growth, decay and change. "Groundswell" shows how those in the vanguard are converting forlorn real estate into significant public assets.
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May 16, 2005 | Viewed 20,849 time(s)
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