Body scape: A wearable inquiry into body–landscape relations

Lewis, AT

Body scape: A wearable inquiry into body–landscape relations

Lewis, AT

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Publisher:: ANU Press
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Craft and Design Enquiry, 2015, 7 pp. 81 - 96
Issue Date:: 2015

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Lewis, AT https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2533-2824	en_US
dc.date.issued	2015	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Craft and Design Enquiry, 2015, 7 pp. 81 - 96	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	2200-6931	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/115178
dc.description.abstract	This essay arose from my current doctoral research investigating the relative position of the human body and its garment cladding within the urban landscape as a generator of place, space and spatial change. I critique the view that our bodies are separate from the landscape, building on the phenomenological foundations of Martin Heidegger and Otto Bollnow, among others. Through this lens, we are able to understand the reliance of the human body upon the earth’s surface for existence, though there is a marked division between the ‘body’ and the ‘landscape’ inherent in phenomenological theory that places us as separate from the space. Employing a combination of theoretical and project-based discussion, I attempt to reveal the inexistence of this separation and, as such, to understand the body as a dynamic material substance of the world. If we consider this in light of the rapidly increasing global urban population then this ‘body material’ becomes one of abundance and signi cant spatial phenomenon. This position is articulated through a wearable project that I conducted for the 2011 Meeting of European Design Students at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The project, titled ‘A Conversation of Space’, investigated and provoked the dialogue of space occurring between our bodies and the surrounding landscape. Through the considered design and construction of abstract garments that distorted and disrupted the occupation and the perceived identity of particular spaces, the project attempted, through public ‘performances’, to reveal and understand the material rami cation of our body presence in the world. The purpose of the inquiry was not to create a new reality or identity within the landscape but, rather, to draw attention to the signi cance of our bodies in creating the spaces that we know to exist.	en_US
dc.publisher	ANU Press	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Craft and Design Enquiry	en_US
dc.title	Body scape: A wearable inquiry into body–landscape relations	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	7	en_US
utslib.for	120107 Landscape Architecture	en_US
utslib.for	1905 Visual Arts And Crafts	en_US
utslib.for	1203 Design Practice And Management	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Architecture
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.consider-herdc	false	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	7	en_US

Abstract:

This essay arose from my current doctoral research investigating the relative position of the human body and its garment cladding within the urban landscape as a generator of place, space and spatial change. I critique the view that our bodies are separate from the landscape, building on the phenomenological foundations of Martin Heidegger and Otto Bollnow, among others. Through this lens, we are able to understand the reliance of the human body upon the earth’s surface for existence, though there is a marked division between the ‘body’ and the ‘landscape’ inherent in phenomenological theory that places us as separate from the space. Employing a combination of theoretical and project-based discussion, I attempt to reveal the inexistence of this separation and, as such, to understand the body as a dynamic material substance of the world. If we consider this in light of the rapidly increasing global urban population then this ‘body material’ becomes one of abundance and signi cant spatial phenomenon. This position is articulated through a wearable project that I conducted for the 2011 Meeting of European Design Students at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The project, titled ‘A Conversation of Space’, investigated and provoked the dialogue of space occurring between our bodies and the surrounding landscape. Through the considered design and construction of abstract garments that distorted and disrupted the occupation and the perceived identity of particular spaces, the project attempted, through public ‘performances’, to reveal and understand the material rami cation of our body presence in the world. The purpose of the inquiry was not to create a new reality or identity within the landscape but, rather, to draw attention to the signi cance of our bodies in creating the spaces that we know to exist.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/115178