Essay

The holistic ambiguity of approaching the landscape

VALERIO MORABITO

The Ambiguous Holisticattitudeof Landscape

When I first heard Richard Weller mention the word "holistic" in a landscape context I was instantly drawn to the way the word sounded. I strongly believe in the sounds of words, in their ability to evoke new perceptions of the environment. As I visualized the sound of the word "holistic" a poem by Baudelaire came to mind.
"Nature is a temple whose pillars live, And often they utter troubled words,

as in a mist;

"Through a code of symbols man passes in life

And everything searches him with its eyes

friendly.

Like long echoes joined together

far

In a chord in which great mysteries are hidden,

Like night or light, deep, boundless,

Perfume, color, sound, all mingle and respond.

There are fresh perfumes like

children's bodies,

Sweet as flute tones, green as plains,

And others rich and trufacious,

and the prig,

Bearing in them the fountains of infinite things,

Like musk, amber, myrrh,

The incense that sings

All that enchants the mind and

the senses enchant."1
The meaning of the English word "holistic" is the same as that of the Italian word "Olistico"; it might seem that I am relying on an obvious concept, but we all know that this is not true. In English the explanation is: 'having to do with or referring to whole entities or complete systems rather than analyzing, treating or dissecting into component parts. Holistic medicine seeks to treat both the mind and the body; holistic ecology views people and their environment as a single unitary system" (Merriam-Webster). Holistic comes from holism, a word of Greek origin, and means whole, whole, integral: "the theory that the universe, and especially living nature, is rightly seen as interacting wholes, as living organisms that are more than the mere sum of elementary particles".In my opinion, the word "holistic" is somewhat ambiguous; it identifies a complex entity that results from the sum of all its elements that are, however, different from what we can label as "identity". It is not clearly defined geometrically or spatially, but at the same time it generates a dense edge around all the elements of 'identity', where ambiguous meanings are elastic enough to move from inside to outside or vice versa: John Dixon Hunt calls it poetry, and Richard Weller considers it an ecological attitude in contemporary landscape architecture.

Many years ago I read a short poem by Ungaretti, an important Italian poet who lived in the early 20th century. It was about Persian carpets and the way their colors and composition are perceived. The poet said thus: "calore dei tappeti Persiani, ogni colore si adagia e si espande nei colori vicini, per essere piu` solo se lo guardi". My English version would be "Warmth of the Persian Rugs, each color lies and expands on the near colors, to be much more than if you look at it alone" ("Warmth of the Persian Rugs; each color lies and expands on the near colors, to be much more than if you look at it alone".) Thus we can see the landscape too. At the beginning of his book Sense of Time Sense of Space, John B. Jackson writes that he was one of the first people to look down on nature, from which he recognized the endless American farmlands divided into parcels and the democratic idealism that once lay behind them. In other books he has written about the scale of the American vernacular landscape, demonstrating an incredible ability to change the scale of his own concept while at the same time maintaining a holistic view of reality, in some ways the same view that Jackson Pollok and Mark Rothko had in their abstract paintings: imbued with a somewhat political and institutional tinge in Rothko's infinite geometric layers, more complicated, complex, confusing and precise in Pollok's vernacular space.
Read the full text in Arhitectura 5/2013
1 Translation by Alexandru Philippide (translator's note).
When, for the first time, I listened to Richard Weller mentioning the word "holistic" in the field of Landscape, I immediately perceive its sound as something attractive. I believe in the sound of words to evocative new perceptions of the environment. As I visualize the sound of "holistic", a poem from Baudelaire comes to my mind.
"Nature is a temple in whichliving pillars

Sometimes give voice to

confused words;

Man passes there through

forests of symbols

Which look at him with

understanding eyes.

Like prolonged echoes mingling in the distance

In a deep and tenebrous unity,

Vast as the dark of night and as the light of day,

Perfumes, sounds, and colors

correspond.

There are perfumes as cool

as the flesh of children,

Sweet as oboes, green as

meadows

- And others are corrupt,

and rich, triumphant,

With power to expand into

infinity,

Like amber and incense,

musk, benzoin,

That sing the ecstasy of the

soul and senses."
The meaning of the word "Holistic" in English and Italian "Olistico" is the same; it seems I am relying on an obvious concept, but all of us know it is not true. The English explanation is: "relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts - holistic medicine attempts to treat both the mind and the body - holistic ecology views humans and the environment as a single system" (Merriam-Webster). Holistic comes from Holism a word with Greek origins and meanings such as whole, all, entire: "a theory that the universe and especially living nature is correctly seen in terms of interacting wholes - as of living organisms - that are more than the mere sum of elementary particles".I believe that the word "holistic" is somewhat ambiguous; it identifies a complex entity emerging from the sum of all its elements that are then different from what we can identify as "identity". Nothing with precise geometry or space but, in the same time, it generates a dense margin all around the elements of the "identity", where ambiguous meanings have a resilient capacity to deal from inside to outside or vice versa: John Dixon Hunt calls it poetry, and Richard Weller refers to it as an ecological attitude in contemporary landscape architecture.

Many years ago I read a short poem from Ungaretti, an important Italian poet who lived in the early20th century. It was about Persian Rugs and how he perceived the colors and their composition. He wrote: "warmth of Persian rugs, each color lies down and expands into the colors nearby, to be more alone if you look at it". My English version is: "Warm of the Persian Rugs, each color lies and expands on the near colors, to be much more than if you look it alone". This is how we can see the landscape.

John B. Jackson, at the beginning of the book "Sense of Time Sense of Space", writes that he was one of the first who looked at the landscape from above, recognizing the endless grids of American agriculture and the democratic idealism that once underpinned it. In other books, he wrote about the scale of vernacular American Landscape, using the incredible capacity to change the scale of his concept but still having a holistic vision of the reality; in a way the same visions that Jackson Pollok and Mark Rothko had in their abstract paintings. Many more political and institutional in the infinitive geometrical layers for Rothko, much more intricate, complex, confused and precise in the vernacular space of Pollok.
Read the full text in the print magazine.