A Sense of the Stream of Time from Shaun Huston on Vimeo.
My primary purpose in this film is to reframe Jackson’s discussion of restoration and preservation in terms of both culture and also nature, that is, to address these questions beyond the cultural landscape in a narrow sense and in terms of landscapes as hybrid geographies, or, as always more-than-human (Whatmore 2002).
“Nature” is a marginal concept in Jackson’s writings. This is not surprising, given that he defined landscape primarily in terms of human use, and his body of work can be more precisely understood as being about the cultural landscape in particular, rather than landscape in a broader sense (see, “The Word Itself” and “By Way of Conclusion: How to Study the Landscape”). While Jackson certainly recognized the value of natural features in the landscape, he was dismissive of “wilderness,” or nature independent of human use and access, as a cultural and political ideal (see “Beyond Wilderness” and “In Favor of Trees” in A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time). He also defended car culture against “disapproval from environmentalists and other right-thinking elements in the population” (“Looking into Automobiles,” A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time, 167). At the same time, he could, as in “Abstract World of the Hot-rodder,” also write appreciatively and evocatively about nature, or, at least, the human experience of nature. In one short reflection from Landscape, he even approaches a hybrid understanding of culture and nature, noting that, “… nature is actually omnipresent in the city …” as “an impalpable or invisible landscape of spaces and color and light and sound and movement and temperature” ("Man and Nature," 339; emphasis in original). So, nature is present in the urban landscape, but only as background, unnoticed, or, even, un-sensed, in a conscious way.
In “’Sterile’ Restorations …” Jackson’s subject is clearly buildings and architecture, but after re-reading the essay for this project, I found myself applying his main argument, represented by the quote featured at the beginning of the film, to the practice of not only cultural-historical restoration and preservation, but also to environmental and ecological restoration and preservation. The last phrase in particular - “its beauty comes from having been part of the world, not from having been isolated and protected, but from having known various fortunes” - reflects not just why many people are compelled to restore and protect “historic” structures, but also natural areas and features. For example, the Pacific Northwest “timber wars,” which reached a climax in the 1994 Northwest Timber Plan, a few years before Jackson’s death, were sparked by scientists and environmentalists arguing for the value of old growth forests, an argument that runs parallel to the “affection” for “ancient” landscapes referenced in Jackson’s essay (see Nathan Rice, “Seeking Balance in Oregon’s Timber Country,” High Country News, 6 May 2013). People will argue for the “living function” of natural features and areas no less than Jackson does for buildings and architectural features.
If landscapes are hybrids, both cultural and also natural, the question to ask about preservation and restoration becomes what qualities are valued where and for what reasons, that is, in what contexts are cultural qualities elevated or centered and in what contexts are natural qualities elevated or centered (see Anderson 2015, 167).
In the film I juxtapose shots of a vacant lot and a park. Both places are striking for their similarities in look and feel, especially in terms of vegetation and wildlife, including insects and birds. I use dissolves to signify the “stream of time,” but also the continuity in natural processes between the two locations. Differences between the locations are shown, primarily in the chain link fence at the vacant lot, but also heard. The vacant lot is in downtown Corvallis, Oregon, and the park is located on a hill in a residential area in the same city. These differences in place are emphasized in the sound recording and editing (see Pink 2015, 124-126). Ultimately, the vacant lot was developed into a hotel, while the park, remains a park. The park in this case, “Woodland Meadow,” is explicitly kept in a more “natural” state, with minimal development, primarily for access. There are no play structures or sports fields.
In the normal course of urban planning and development the different outcomes for these landscapes are not surprising. The location of the vacant lot in the central business district made that particular landscape more valuable when further developed, while the park remains more valuable when less developed. However, it is also possible to see the vacant lot, prior to the hotel, as being more “wild” than the park. To preserve access and the look and feel of Woodland Meadow Park requires regular maintenance (the park had, in fact, been recently mowed at the time of my shoot). By comparison, I would point to Anna Tsing’s concept of “auto-rewilding” as a way of understanding the “naturalness” of the vacant lot (Interview at Allegra Lab, 17 November 2015). We could choose to value the work of the plants and animals that “re-wilded” that space as much as we choose to value the profit promised by the hotel, or the well-maintained open-space of the park. In that sense, Jackson’s provocation to ask, “what is worth saving and worth using” applies not just to landscapes in a cultural sense, but also to landscapes as hybrid geographies, where the more-than-human qualities of a landscape may also be valued for their “living function” and “having known various fortunes” no less than the features of a human-built environment.
Cited works from J.B. Jackson, Landscape in Sight, ed. Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (Yale University Press, 1997):
- "By way of Conclusion: How to Study Landscape" (1980).
- Notes and Comments: "Man and Nature" (1960).
- "'Sterile' Restorations Cannot Replace a Sense of the Stream of Time" (1994).
- "The Abstract World of the Hot-Rodder" (1957-58).
- "The Word Itself" (1984).
Cited works from J.B. Jackson, A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time, (Yale University Press, 1994):
- “Beyond Wilderness.”
- “In Favor of Trees.”
- “Looking into Automobiles.”
Other cited works:
- Anderson, Jon. 2015. Understanding Cultural Geography, 2d edition (Routledge).
- Pink, Sarah. 2015. Doing Sensory Ethnography, 2d edition (SAGE Publications).
- Whatmore, Sarah. 2002. Hybrid Geographies: Natures, Cultures, Spaces (SAGE Publications).
