Perceiving landscape: a cultural act and aesthetic experience

A keynote lecture that discussed the notion of landscape as a cultural construct. Geraint Evans discussed the perception of nature within towns and suburbs; within gardens (with reference to the English landscape garden tradition), and parks; in relation to tourism (national parks, theme parks and walking clubs) and, discussed the perception of wilderness. The presentation largely agrees with Malcolm Andrews assessment that “Landscape, which has long meant either the real countryside or the pictured representation of it, is in effect the combination of the two.”

This symposium hosted by Norwich University College of the Arts on March 10th 2011 centered around the notion of a threshold or encounter, between the real and the imaginary.

Other speakers included: Kathleen Fox (Artist) and Dr. Krzysztof Fijalkowski (Curator) who talked about their recent project at the Freud Museum, London called "The spaces of the unconscious". The exhibition, which took the form of a multimedia installation, explored the threshold between the conscious and the unconscious, negotiating a space between the real and the imaginary. Harriet Godwin (Curator) who discussed the 'Visual Dialogues' project (a Tate partnership project currently at Norwich Castle Museum). The project aims to "bring together contemporary and historic works to generate creative responses to the collections". The work on loan from the Tate is 'Cross in the wilderness' by Ged Quinn, a painting which itself navigates a theshold between the imaginary and the real, subverting historical and contemporary references.

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