‘Line of Wreckage’: Towards a Postindustrial Environmental Aesthetics

Abstract

Environmental aesthetics, largely because of its focus on ‘natural’ rather than artifactual environments, has ignored postindustrial sites. This article argues that this shortcoming stems from the nature–culture divide and that such sites ought to be considered by environmental aestheticians. Three forms of artistic engagement with postindustrial sites are explicated by looking at the work of Serra, Smithson, and others. It is argued that postindustrial art leads to a successively richer ability to see and thus think about such sites. Finally, a new category is proposed, the interesting, in order to capture the aesthetic experience of postindustrial landscape art that eludes current terminology.

Acknowledgements

Earlier versions of this paper were read at the International Association for Environmental Philosophy (Salt Lake City, UT, October 2005), Denison University (April 2006), and the American Society for Aesthetics (Milwaukee, WI, October 2006). The author thanks those present for their thoughtful questions and helpful suggestions. The author thanks, too, Andrew Light, who commented on the paper at the ASA and helped refine his reading of Carlson, and Barbara Fultner who commented on earlier drafts. Finally, the author thanks Robert Smithson, whose subtitle from Bayonne Nonsite he has borrowed as his title.

Notes

Notes

¹ The hyphen in ‘re-present’ emphasizes the presenting of the sites anew.

² A film of the performance can be found at Robert Smithson.