John McAllister: shining serenest-like wilds whirl at MASSIMODECARLO
Whenever I think about landscape as a genre, I end up rereading Sentences on Landscape by Gleb Simonov. The thing is, it became impossible for me to write anything after that. So here are some quotes for your enjoyment:
In a way, we can’t actually project ourselves onto the landscape because being there entails a need to define oneself once again. Projection is, of course, a failure, but it’s a failure to be, not just to separate. Which is another reason anthropomorphizing the land is hardly an issue: the land is much more likely to terramorphize the viewer, as it already does.
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Everything vernacular speaks of coherence, landscape is no different. Things exist in agreement, be it between soils and seasons, rocks and buildings, paths and their directions — a metaphor of a world one can indeed live in, if not entirely understand it — rapidly decohering into a terra near the outskirts. For the commons, clarity is alignment with daily use.
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Sometimes, invasive species look really beautiful — fitting, somehow in tone with the land, such that their removal will take away something precious — all while still choking out the rest of the ecosystem. The feeling doesn’t have to be wrong; perhaps it is simply a byproduct of the inherent goodness of things.
Exhibition period: 21.11–24.01
Gallery address: 205 & 206, Barrack Block, Tai Kwun, Central








