Versus: The 7th Landscape Architecture Biennial in Barcelona

摘要

The 7 European Landscape Architecture Biennial will be startingjust as this issue of 'scape rolls off the press. As one of the later biennales in the packed 2012 calendar, it holds a lot of promise. It also occupies an interesting position in the biennale range, as it is the only one devoted exclusively to landscape architecture. While the discipline is small worldwide, and was underrepresented as part of the built environment at the other biennales - with the exception of the IABR to some extent - the biennale in Barcelona this year is the seventh edition. This time it is fittingly titled Versus (Biennial vs Biennial) and its mission is promising as it assumes and states that we are in a time of instability as cultural producers. Landscape might have earth-mother overtones, blame it on the subject matter I suppose, though the realities of landscape architectural design and practice are as down and dirty as any. Our time scale is longer and more dynamic than that of architecture, but our history, theory and sophistication of practice have some catching up to do. The European Landscape Architecture Biennial is a good platform for actual development in the discipline.