Chapter 11 Landscapes beyond the Pale: Experiencing the Genius Loci

In: Numinous Fields: Perceiving the Sacred in Nature, Landscape, and Art
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John Powell
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Abstract

‘Genius loci’ is a term whose meanings have evolved from its original coining in Ancient Rome, where it referred to an actual, immanent spirit or god associated with a particular place, to today where usually, but not always, it refers to no more than the essential character or atmosphere of a geographical location. Gardens are contextual entities and their very existence in a particular location necessarily involves a relationship with the genius loci. Understanding and appreciating that relationship is a fundamental component of our experiencing and appreciating gardens. The Chapter considers the case of so-called theme gardens, that is, gardens in which this traditional relationship between gardens and their contexts no longer exists, and asks on what basis we should conceptualize, experience, and judge such gardens? I extrapolate Danto’s dictum concerning some 20th-century avant-garde art, that art exists to be interpreted, to the world of gardens and question on what basis, given theme gardens’ non-contextuality, our interpretations of them ought to proceed. Should we be ready to accept this “museumification” of gardens; or is something too important, and constitutive of gardens being lost along the way? The Chapter concludes by suggesting that perhaps, in some cases, the immanent gods of the past have not entirely disappeared after all.

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