The contemporary landscape is a composite landscape, in which culture has developed into a force that counterbalances nature – in the words of Michel Serres:
“At last, we exist in nature---'s scale”. Nature has become delimited by culture, and a conversion has taken place – from the civilising islands in the all-powerful, untouched nature, to fragments of nature surrounded by a cultural condition. My project “Anthroposcenic Archive” is a collection of different sites across the world, ranging from monumental post-tsunami land works in Japan to local fauna crossings in Denmark – sites that are neither nature nor culture, but rather white patches on the map.
A new landscape is being formed as we erect sea walls, new dikes and embankments in order to protect ourselves from the forces of nature. Through new infrastructure and fascinating new land works we are trying to adapt our cities and industrial areas to the climate change - but as the sea level is rising, the landscape is losing its true horizon. The space of the landscape is becoming delimited by an artificial horizon instead of being open and endless. The horizon is emblematic to freedom and unlimited vision, so how will this change in our landscapes change us? Will our society continue, as we have unfortunately seen as of lately, to close around itself, in order to keep, not only the water, but also people out?
My hope is, that we, who live in these new landscapes under the same sky, in the age of the Anthropocene, will open our eyes for that, which is now all around us, the new nature. It is up to us, to fully acknowledge our role in the future interplay between nature and culture, and to understand that the present landscape is part of a much larger continuum, where all humans play a role.