Edward Burtynsky's 'Manufactured Landscapes' programme notes

After reading comments left by Chris Van Beck I decided to firstly watch the programme ‘Manufactured Landscapes’, a video on the work of Edward Burtynsky. I have become really intrigued by this series of work and how I can use similar aspects to shape the final products of both my object and environment units; therefore I made the following notes and comments on the programme.  

 -          He uses large format, instant print cameras

-          To harm the planet we ultimately harm ourselves

-          We are connected to it, we are part of it so if we destroy it, nature can destroy ourselves

-          Fundamental, philosophical position when I look at the world

-          Maybe the landscape of our time is the one of change, one that we disrupt

-          Industrial landscape as a way of defining who we are and our relationship to the planet

-          Part of our kind, our politics, our time

-          Not to celebrate or glorify it but also not to damn it- this is what it is, allows the viewer to comprehend the scale- a different landscape.

-          the noise of industry in opening scene of video- humungous factory in China

-          the factory of the world, the channel of the world- colour theory? Yellow

-          theme started when he was inspired by nature

-          epiphany when lost in mining town- found largest industrial area he could find

-          beautiful & sublime yet due to subject matter in actual fact quite ugly

-          always in the back of everyone’s mind when thinking about the extraction industry- we all know it comes from somewhere but we’re disconnected from that, his images bring it to our consciousness

-          explored quarries/ mines etc.- evidence, discussions of extraction

-          During the gallery viewing- people looked at his work close up- detail, what is it? People turn heads to figure out what is going on

-           Dimensions of images are huge which enlarges the little details which are the most important

-          Materials go to China to be formed into products and sent back out

-          Scrap heaps become hills and mountains

-          Pressed rubbish, strange, neat boxes- tidied away from human eyes.

-          Other aspects- recycling from here is shipped to China eg. metals, coppers, motor parts, 50% of computers end up in China to be recycled- referred to as the waste there

-          Workers pull apart all the components to get all the valued stuff out- the smell of burning awes can be smelt 10km from the area

-          Phosphors are released when the computer boards are smashed apart which drains away and contaminated the water- they are now having to ship their water in- destruction

-          The huge masses of materials etc. become indistinguishable- scale?

-          Huge pollution- growing- more products needed therefore growing industry

-          Consumerism growth= waste growth

-         His images have a stillness- a silence, can’t imagine the chaotic noise- manufacturing noise

-          Ships photographed are a metaphor for reason to allow globalisation to take the steps it has- connection

-          His images are just magnificent, epic, incomprehensible, expansive

-          Everything he does is connected to what he is photographing:

-          Probably used the gas delivered by one of the tankers, the metal which made his tripod, the silver in the film he uses.

-          Oil tankers- had crude still in the bottoms which had to be scraped out by hand- no one older than 30 works there, up to their necks in it, dangerous

-          Oil industry- oil epiphany, how it effects his life:

-          When driving- the steering wheel probably made from oil derivative, paint on the car, glass heated through tar- oil is the key building block of modern life, the last century

-          Great abundance of black liquid- freedom, China- ‘second last dance’, whatever we do we won’t have enough to supply the world

-          China trying to be the manufacturer for the world- how long will they be able to sustain?

-          The Three Gorges Dam is the largest in the world by 50%

-          Took 50 days to fill, 600km long

-          27 nuclear power stations are to be built in the next 10 years

-          Coal burning stations

-          Massive transformation of landscape- intentional, need for power- 13 full sized cities destroyed for reservoir, flattened buildings to allow ships to go through

-          People who used to live there are the ones working there- being paid to take their cities apart

-          Melancholic- landscape made out of a destroyed landscape, frenetic activity, surreal chaos, roads made between mountains of rubble.

-          Beijing is 90% agriculture & 10% urbanised but they plan to make it 30% agriculture and 70% urban- urbanisation of china is unprecedented

-          Shanghai is the fastest growing city- last year it had about 4-5 million new citizens arrive

-          City for the younger generation

-          Thousands of high rise dwellings are taking over old traditional dwellings.

-          Red= happy traditional Chinese colour

-          Older generation not happy- heart longs for the traditional, the past- old knocked down community- new buildings

-          One person would not move- last standing house, alone and isolated

-          Burtynsky thought about putting his work into a more criticising light- ‘If I said this is a terrible thing we are doing to the planet then people would either agree or disagree. By not saying what you should see allows them to see their world a little differently’

-          It puts the viewer in an uncomfortable spot- we ‘..don’t want to give up what we’ve got, but we realise what we’re doing’

-          Creating problems that run deep- not simply right or wrong- a new way of thinking.  

My response & analysis of 'Manufactured Landscapes' relating to my own work

-          When watching the gallery visitors in Burtynsky’s exhibition I was interested in their reactions

-          I like the way that the people didn’t seem offended by his work but confused and intrigued by it.

-          I want a similar effect when people look at my work, I don’t want people to think that I am criticising them but purely to highlight the unawareness we have towards pollution through ignorance of sewage pipes due to companies not informing the public of health risks etc.

-          I really like how the audience of his work takes a bit of time to comprehend the subject matter and what it is trying to show, a similar response that I would like both my object unit and environment unit final work to achieve.

-          For example in my environment shots, I want the audience to notice the scene as a whole as a beautiful scene but then notice the ugly, ominous pipe in the foreground and the other aspects in the background eg. beach huts and children playing

-          To start thinking about the different effects the sewage pipes can have on the surrounding environment- health risks, aesthetic issues etc. and the ignorance that they previously had towards these issues when possibly walking on a beach like that 
-        Again like Burtynsky, I want them to think how it is not right or wrong- as it is right to have them their because we need a way of depositing overflow material otherwise we would create more problems at treatment plants etc. but also wrong as it is on a beach where humans and nature can very easily be effected by dangerous bacteria levels on the beach and in the water.