Charles Jencks and Postmodernism - Essay Example

CHARLES JENCKNS AND POST –MODERNISM How would one define post-modernism in reference to garden design and otherwise? initially just as post modernism, it is what we call a set of ideas that have only emerged as an area of a academic studies since the middle of the 1980s.it is a concept that has appeared in a wide variety of disciplines or areas of study including art, architecture and garden designing. The easiest way to start thinking about post modernism is by thinking about modernism first, it is a movement from which one can say post modernism grew. Post modernism follows mostly the same ideas of modernism such as rejecting boundaries between higher and lower forms of art, irony and playfulness. Post modern art favours reflexivity and the self consciousness, its emphasis is on the de-structured, decentred and dehumanized subject. It is also concerned with questions of the organization of knowledge. In a society where post modernism exists knowledge becomes functional, one learns things not to know but to use that knowledge. We are talking about post modernism in relation to garden design which has become an integral part of the cultural landscape. One can notice a difference in the way the gardens are being designed as compared to the modernism days. There seems to be now a bond between the abstract and the arts and craft approaches, the geometry of the abstract art has been blended with the various delights of the arts and craft gardens. This change is mostly commonly seen in the materials which are chosen. Before for gardens people would choose a square concrete slab or a wood painted white which was used to represent the abstract style but now due to post modernism, there is now the richness of the earthy bricks, the stained timber and concrete finishing’s as well as the decorative fittings which have appeared in the gardens and the sense of place and scale is altogether more intimate then before. An example of this would be a pine-apple, , Where its spirals scales of a pine cone run from the bottom to the top, it has recurring numbers, ratios and proportions. Its recurrent pattern is a form of what one says self-organization in the way the pine apple scales occupy space given the rate at which they grow. They can support each other in the way they fill in the space most simply without wasting any space. Talking of space how can one not mention architecture, it plays a very integral role in the layout of the garden, the univalent building is what advertises its simplicity of forms, it insists on just one theme which controls or dominates the construction of the building , this is achieved by repetition .examples would be, This is shake spheres globe theatre, bank side. London. Another would be of, The tower 42, London and the last example in relation to garden design would be, This a beautiful piece of work which shows post modernism in architecture in relation to garden design, this has been made by Charles Jenkins. Charles Jencks is an American architectural theorist; he is a landscape architect and a designer. One can say that he coined the term post modernism but he is often regarded as having popularized its use in relation to architecture especially in his 1977 book “The Language of Post Modern Architecture”. He is regarded as a leading figure in the British landscape architecture, one can say that his landscape work is inspired by fractals, genetics, chaos, theory, waves and sol tons, all which we will show in his later work in the Scottish museum. Jencks thought of post modernism as something which offered a new synthesis at a higher level and something which overcomes the modern world picture, he takes an extremely positive view at post modernism, according to him, “Post modernism has become more then social condition and cultural movement; it has become a world view” He considered feminism and post feminism, the green and ecological movements , the crossing disciplines, the rise of the ecological world view in the west as post modernism. An example of his work in relation to his idea of post modernism would be the most famous,” garden of cosmic speculation” (1989-2007). This is a garden with 40 major areas, gardens, bridges, land forms, sculptures, terraces, fences and architectural works. it is known that gardens and parks tend to tell stories here Jencks transforms his knowledge of the complexity in to an amazing garden full of fascination amongst the rough Scottish country hill, which deals with a them which is no less then the universe, the space of the garden is dedicated to the human senses, ear, nose and lips. It is in the form of a formal garden, the senses are represented by abstract or figured sculptures made of aluminium, plants, each stimulating a particular sense. Around the sculpture is dedicated to the nose with the nice smelling plants from the Mediterranean. In showing touch, there grows thistles. The flowers heighten the other senses like sound by hearing the sound of the insects buzzing around the flower. Post modernism is all about using knowledge and through this Charles Jencks has shown his idea of post modernism brilliantly. Another example of his work would be the rail garden of Scottish worthies, portraxck (2003-2006) with 3 bridges designed with engineers, it has a rail garden and 17 moundettes plus an engine pulling the leaders of the Scottish enlightenment. Another example of his work would be of water war garden2003-2004,it is a water garden with the theme of chaos and life. Another way to show and explain post modernism according to Jencks would be the Scottish museum of modern art which lies in Edinburgh; it is a beautiful land form which is based on the flow of the earth and the traffic. He has used the de-structured form of post modernism in the formal context to the classical grand building which seems to be lost and factorised. The forms which have been sculpted from the earth to create the landform are an expression of the intervention between man and landscape. The form refers to the geometries expressed in natural features such as waves, ripples, clouds and geological formations. Many visitors from around the world come and see this beautiful work by him where he has portrayed post modernism beautifully in the form of waves and ripples. Jencks was a firm believer that post modernism is about ecological movements which he has shown through this work. To look at it takes ones breath away and what a beautiful idea of post modernism this garden is. Read More