This project, procures an approach to the contemplation of one of the keys given to the
intelligence for the understanding of the human condition. As one of the most poetic
forms of the disclosure of existence, the landscape of our planet, presents a so simple
event like wonderful, and is the one, who marks the finiteness of our immediate
command, at the same time that it announces us the possibility of infinite.
The condition of finiteness, inherent to our life in this world, as much as our
consciousness of the infinite; the longing of the truth in an existence signed by the
mystery, and the scope of the meaning of the landscape in the human condition, all of its
become apprehensible in what we call : the horizon condition.
- Title Original : La Condición Horizonte
- Website : http://
- Notes : The notion of "inhabiting" is specifically inherent to the habitat. Landscape is the cultural dimension in which the notion of "inhabiting" is constructed, preserved and inherited. Therefore, landscape is the human sense of habitat. This act of inhabiting is singled out by the characteristics and natural elements of the habitat. Among these features, the horizon is, in our view, the most important in shaping the human condition. It is in its being a producer of subjectivity that lies the power of landscape. Its fundamental power is rooted in the function of determination of human identity. This is the specific power of landscape, due to the fact that it includes the subjective dimension. Thus, the landscape category acquires a specific connotation that distinguishes it from other conceptual categories that are inherent to the habitat,e.g. environment, ecosystem, territory.Then, its specific power is related to this condition of including the subject. Thissubject of landscapeis of utmost important as it provides an interface through which human beings relate to and interact with the territory. As a consequence, preservation, intervention and landscape design all involve an impact on the human dimension in the order of subjectivity, of identity. The power of landscape lies in the fact that landscape is the subjective dimension of territory, and this becomes more relevant in a globalized world where the territory becomes the last line of resistance of cultural identity. This means that the territory -or landscape, its subjective dimension- has a key role in each individual's "being in the world", which in the words of Martin Heidegger would be thedasein.1 Landscape is the last discernible human skin, as follows from the idea of thevarious skins of human beings in the conception of Hundertwasser described by Pierre Restany.2 Humans incorporate the world -we make it part of us. Incorporating the world is making the world a part of our body, but not only in regard to the elements that materially constitute our corporeality. According to Felix Guattari3, we might consider landscape as asubjectivity producing medium as well as -in the conception of Edgar Morin-4a key element related to what Morin calls "self-eco-construction of the subject." We refer to that othercorpus that is constructed from landscape, that is a part of us and thus affects us if it is affected. The topology and dynamics of human thought, of humans' inner world, of thismicrocosm, is marked by landscape in its being a producer of subjectivity. Landscape is an extension of the body and it is on this concept that the exploration of the human right to landscape should be primarily based. The definition of the human condition is the most ambitious achievement that human beings can aim to. The condition of being in the world is determined by the configuration of this condition. This is the leit motivof human beings, and it is in the physical world given to human life where it is expressed on the planetary landscape, whose meaning is evidently a part of an absolute sense. Thus, the keys to this human condition arise from a hermeneutics of the planetary landscape. It is reasonable to assume that the possibility of meaning is based on the existence of an absolute sense, a concept taken from Jean Baudrillard5, which then comprises all that is understood by consciousness- the fragmented senses. The scope of the meaning of landscape in the configuration of the world we inhabit is implicit in the roots of ourJewish-Christian culture, even when it is not explicitly mentioned. A Biblical passage (Genesis 1:7) reads ?... God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse?. Here, the concept of horizon as a configuring element is already implicit. In this creative act, the horizon is revealed indirectly as the element that configures the reality to be inhabited by human beings throughout history.This essay is an approximation to the consideration of the horizon as one of the keys given to human intelligence for the understanding of the human condition. The horizon marks the finitude of our existence and our immediate perception, and at the same time announces the possibility of the infinite and triggers the intuition of the transcendent, of what isbeyond. The horizon defines the limits of and the way in which human cognition of reality is possible. While humans can intuit or rationalize the whole, our perception of the delimited part is fragmental. Landscape is the portion of the whole assigned toinhabiting. The horizon is its limit, its support, its configuring element. When defining the purposes, conditions or criteria for landscape intervention, this condition of landscape should have a privileged position in the hierarchy. At the same time, this feature that constitutes the power of landscape and the relevance of the scope of landscape interventions is the aspect that determines the specificity of landscaping or landscape design as a discipline. Landscape is the place where the finite condition of our perception and our life in this world, as well as our intuition and consciousness of the infinite, are projected and materialized. Landscape serves as the foundations of our metaphors. In the intersection of the expression of nature and the expression of human beings as a part of it, the subtle and veiled desire to achieve certainty in an existence marked by mystery has a graspable meaning which defines the human condition in its landscape. We have come to call this meaning thehorizon condition. 1 Heidegger, M. (2001)Conferencias y artículos. Spain: Del Serbal. 2 Restany, Pierre (1998)The Power of Art. Hundertwasser - The Painter-King with the five skins. Cologne: Taschen. 3 Guattari, F. (1997)Caosmosis. Argentina: Manantial. 4 Morin, E. (1995)Introducción al pensamiento complejo. Spain: Gedisa. 5Baudrillard, J. (1996) El crimen perfecto. Barcelona: Anagrama.
- Project start : 2011
- Project end : 2014
- Contact Person : Fernando Martínez Agustoni
- Location : Uruguay, Montevideo, lat : -34.902263568726360000 - lng : -56.141252517700195000 address : Francisco Muñoz, Montevideo 11300, Uruguay