Contrasting Lenses - Sites in New Ways

Abstract

This paper addresses how site transformations made by artists can expand notions of methodologies regarding site, as well as adding to present discussions about sustainability and research approaches. Based on experiences from two artworks a landscape and a garden the paper contributes to contemporary concepts of urban site thinking. The works were commissioned and made in 2012 and 2013 respectively as part of the transdisciplinary PhD project Landscape sprawl An artistic response to living in the anthropocene (Markman, 2014), Aarhus School of Architecture (AAA) and Centre for Strategic Urban Research. The paper concludes that methods used by artists can provide a new concept for urban site thinking, namely site making. Site thinking and site making become unified in the artistic approach, and the making of even small site transformations enables the envisioning of possibilities for the larger urban area.