The Shifting LandscapeFaziawati Abdul Aziz

Jury ReviewSapura Mohamad & Norhalizah Hanifah

The GiftMohd Fairuz Shahidan, Mohd Fabian Hasna, Faziawati Abdul Aziz& Aini Jasmin Ghazali

Integrated Green LifestyleMohd Fabian Hasna, Faziawati Abdul Aziz, Mohd Fairuz Shahidan& Aini Jasmin Ghazali

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The Shifting Landscape:Environmental ArtFaziawati Abdul Aziz

Lets emphoric being able to paint a particular picture, orto carve a statue and so to make a few objects beautiful.Yet, it is far more glorious to carve and paint the veryatmosphere and medium through which we look ... Toaffect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts

(Thoreau, 1966).

It is human nature to seek for new, exciting and theunexpected that would break the bonds from the ordinaryand the known. At the same time, we seek beauty andbalance within ourselves and of ow environment. At theintersection of these two values, the radical emerges-an evolution that changes our landscape. In relationto our environment, the art movement shifted from thetraditional displays in galleries and museum to the naturalenvironment. Environmental art, land art, earth art,earthworks or art in nature, in whichever name we wantto call it, emerges in the 1960s as "a release from thetheoretical arguments concerning abstract expressionism,minimalism, and theatricality" (Thornes, 2008). Theoutcome from critiques of the conventional arts that itwas deemed as out-dated and not in harmony with thenatural environment. Unlike paintings, environmental art ismore about human experiences, engaging with art andits environment. It is what that links the aesthetics and theenvironment which impacts upon our feelings and oureveryday experience of our environment that is oftentaken for granted (ibid).

The term environmental art is generally used to describean artwork where the artist actively engages with theenvironment. It is art that helps improve our relationshipwith the natural world. It is the integration of art into theoutdoor environment (Mohd Fabian, Osman et cl. 2012).Hal Foster (1996) describes environmental art as "site-specific sculptural projects that utilise the materials ofthe environment to create new forms or to adjust ourimpressions of the panorama: programs that import new,unnatural objects into the natural setting with similar goals:time - sensitive individual activities in the landscape;collaborative, socially aware interventions."

Environmental art isnot only confined to the work of artists,but is part and parcel of the Landscape Architecturalprofession as their scope of work involves designingoutdoor spaces be it in urban areas or the natural settings.In line with that, the final project for the Bachelor ofLandscape Architecture FirstYear students required themto produce six live environmental art works in selected sitesthat demonstrates their understanding of site contexts andthe application of basic design principles and theories intheir works.

The Course

However; not all arts in nature are accepted andconsidered in line with the natural environment. Someargued that monumental environmental art such as theSpiral Jetty by Smithson in the Great Salt Lake in Utah wasa violation to earth as it heightens the fragility of the land.It involved major alteration to the earth and displacementof natural resources: the movement of 6783 tonnes of rock,earth and salt crystals (Thornes, 2008).

This course covers the introduction to design and basicdesign principles, design theories, idea and conceptdevelopment and processes in creating a design. Firstly,students were required to create a monochromic modelthat displays the design' of spaces using planes anddemonstrates their knowledge of concept development,design principles and form, space and order. Thecourse also trains students to present their design ideasprofessionally. Apart from that, the course also covers asite specific environmental art project that focuses on thestudents' ability to create designs that are sensitive andresponsive towards the chosen site.

Nevertheless, this form of art has long been replacedwith a more environmental friendly approach of artworks. It involves minimal alteration to the landscape,using natural resources from area of work, and one eveninvolved the simple movement of walking. Richard Long,an environmental artist hailing from Bristol, England isfamously known for his 'walks' temporarily imprinted onthe landscape and captured through photographs. j

A study trip to Singapore was carried out to expose thestudents to public arts, its relation to the site and the impactit has to the public. The students would then have a clearer

picture of designing space in urban areas and botanicalgarden, understand the connections between spaceand street furniture, as well as experiencing landscapearchitectural design in detail. After the study trip, threeinventory and analyses were conducted at the Faculty ofDesign and Architecture, and another three at SriSerdangLake. All six sites were chosen by the students based onissues that they would like to highlight. The inventory andanalytical plans were produced in groups as well as thefinal envlronrnentcl art project.

Critiques and Suggestions

Overall, the students have shown their abilities to designand present their ideas, as well as construct their art workson site through this environmental art project. They havemanaged to grasp the understanding of design processes,idea developments, the importance of understanding thesite when designing, and see for themselves the impacttheir art works have on users. However, the scale of someof the art works became an issue in which the works wereout of scale in context to the site. Thiswas due to as most ofthem were constructed at the studio and later brought tothe site. Suggestively, all future art works are constructedon site during the eight weeks duration similar to what hasdone by The Graffiti of Spiral group led by MuhammadFikri. The group and other two groups artefacts namelythe Gift and Integrated Green Lifestyle were selected forfuture references.

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Jury Review

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Mohd. Fairuz Shahidan, Mohd. Fabian Hasna, Faziawati Abdul Aziz & Aini Jasmin Ghazali

The Gift

'The Gift' emerges from a tale of storks that brought babiesto houses in a town. It symbolizes fertility and isassociatedwith birth. Thus, 'The Gift' represents the notion of bringingnew life to the society, an exciting and joyful events.Storks frequented the area at SriSerdang Lake thereforestrongly relates to the concept and is appropriate as asubject matter. The wing of the stork is used to representthe bird and it epitomises the power of thought, freedomand speed. It is a means of trying to enliven the rubbishridden area and it hopes that this breathe of fresh airwould eventually transform the area into a cleaner,

livelier and attractive space. The colour white representspurity, perfection, innocence and completeness. Thus, anew beginning for the community. It creates contrast tothe natural green setting whilst not being too harsh andtherefore blending well. From afar, the art work exhibits aflock of wings flying away to the sky through the repetitionsof different heights and movement of the wingsof whichis visually appealing and gives a sense of curiosity to thepublic. The wings were made out of impraboard andthree sizes of feathers were cut out and arranged toreplicate the movement of wings.

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• Tan Chee Cheat, Mohamad Raafiq Saiful Anuar, Nur Atikah Motridi,Nor Fadhilah Abd Azlz. Nur Asilah Idris, Nur Syahirah Mohd Kadis,Lau Wai Mun

Integrated Green LifestyleMohd.Fabian Hasna, Faziawati Abdul Aziz, Mohd. Fairuz Shahidan &Aini Jasmin Ghazali

The site selected for this artefact inSri Serdang Lake is frequented by thelocal community for workout relatedactivities such as aerobics and jogging.Therefore, it is only natural that the artwork represented and responded tothe local activities here. 'IntegratedGreen Lifestyles' intends to convey themessage on the importance of livinga healthy lifestyle through a fun andartistic medium. Human-sized figures inperforming three different sport's actionswere constructed using plywood andmirrors. The mirrors were cut out intothe shape of honeycombs to representthe sense of unity. The mirrored figuresreflected the trees within the area.Therefore blending well with the naturalsetting thus not dominating the areaitself. Simultaneously, from afar, thereflection of the sun flashes light into themirrors which attracted attentions of theusers. The only drawback of this art workwas that the figures were dwarfed by itsvast surrounding even though the figureswere cut at human scale. Initially, onlythe glassed figures were placed on site.After critiques regarding the scale of theart work were voiced out, sixwhite figureswere added to the art work which gavea far bigger impact to the initial idea.

• Jacky Leong Hoe Kit, Syaza Mohd Ridzuan, Chong Fei Pow,NurNaqibah Hawa, Najihah Mohamad Jais, Nurul Izati Ishak,Mohd Fadzli Othman @ Anan

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