Photographs of the Belgian landscape time and again in the
same locations, reveal changes in plant population, in habitation
and in architecture.
Recollecting Landscapes: landscape
photography as a didactic tool
Bruno Notteboom
Recoleting Landscapes isa rephorographicsrvey
project which documents a century of landscape
‘uansformation in Belgium Its based on the
successive photography of sixty sites at three
‘moments n time between 1904 and 2004 3.2],
“This paper takes the project asa starting point to
investigate the subject of theimageand its
presentation. This means that the text develops
some thoughts on how the images in the project
are displayed and read, rather than on the content
they display
Documentand discourse
ecolecting Landscapes is marked by two ambitions
first, to make an inventory of representative
landscapes and, second, to present this inventory 10
other scholars and to the general public. The project
constructs a specifickind ofarchive, one thats set sp
both as an interpretative instrument and ata didactic
tool. According to photographer Allan Sekula, nan.
archive the possibilty of meaning is liberated :the
archiveis marked by a'semanticavailablity’.10
constitutesa territory of images’ whose meanings
are up for grabs."Rephotography takes this
vailability asa starting point to-embed imagesina
new logicand discourse. Images arereframed and
‘meaning is redirected by layout, captions, text and
siteand inode of presentation, Rephotography lke
documentary photography in general - thus
oscillates between document and discourse?”
‘An important evolution inthe course ofthis
projects the transition from print (o pixel. Themost
recent rephotographic series in the Recollecting
landscapes project resulted ina proliferation of
‘media’ a sourcebook, a mltimedia exhibition,
documentary film and an interactive website with an
condine archive www recollectinglandscapes bel
Digital technology seems to expose the oscillation,
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between documentand discourse inherent in this
kind of archival material, On the one hand, web
applications enhance the accuracy of information
slorage, Webelated databases arean aid to adding
‘unambiguous metadata about the original context
ofimages: year, place and date of production.
photographer, institutional contextand soon. On
the other hand, the availability of information on
the web allows us torecontextualise images with an
‘unprecedented ease In the age of the internet, search
engines such at Google Images have become an
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important source of information for students aswell
ar scholars, Anyone can now produce sn instant
PowerPoint presentation om any subject from behind
their own desk It goes without saying that in th
limitles image archive of the internet, easy access
prevails oer accurate metadata. This evolution leads
toone of themain questions behind this issue of arg
how should scholars deal with the proliferation of
images? How dowe prevent new technologies sich as
the web and PowerPoint presentations from resulting
inamere rhetorical parade of images without
context? More generally speaking: how do we deal
‘with the issue of information control when images
‘migrate from one discursive context to another?
Archive, lassroom, exhibition space
Each phase of Reollecting Landscapes took place ina
specific context and served a different agenda, The
first series was produced by botanist Jean Massart
betoreen 1904 and 1911 for his series of photographic
albums les aspects dela végéationen Belgique Aspects the
‘egetation of ¥elgiun).‘ These albums were
commissioned by the National Botanical Garden and
the Ministry of Agriculeare in order to make
Massart’s scientific research accessible toan audience
beyond university staffand scudents. Because of the
outbreak ofthe First World War, however, only the
Hlemish part of the country was documented. The
second phase began in 1980 when the National
Botanical Garden of Relgiam asked Georges Charlier
torephotograph sixty ofthese sites, resulting in the
ook Landschappen in Viaanderenvrocgeren Van
_groenearmoede tt grijze overlad Landscapes in Flanders
{hen and now: From green poverty to grey abundance)
‘While the first two phases ofthe project were
anchored in a botanical interest, the initiative for the
‘most recent rephotography originated ina different
disciplinary context. 3004, the Flemish,
Architectural Institute commissioned photographer
Jan Kempenaezso follow in the footsteps of Massazt
and Charlier. The rephotography this time ws
‘embedded in aresearch project on landscape
transformation guided by the Department of
Architecture & Urban Planning of Ghent University
and the Ghent University Library under the title
Recoleting Landscapes. This context broadened the
scope of interest: apart from botany and agriculture,
other aspects of landscapes were studied, especially
in the field of architecture and urban planning
To understand the didactic strategies mvolved in
‘thevatious stages ofthe project, tis important to
consider not only the maker ofthe images and the
contextin which they were created but also the
‘viewer and the mechanisms of appropriation and
control elated tothe context in which images are
viewed. The following paragraphs explore the idea
‘hatin each phase of Recollecting Landscapes imnages
hhave been viewed in a setting that relates to one or
more ofthe following archetypical spaces of
knowledge storage and display: che archive, the
classroom and the exhibition space, These Uhree
types of spaces act ~in varying configurations ~
as discursive spaces that mediate between maker
and viewer"The natural habitat of Mastart’ images isthe
classroom, His image archive was the main didactic
aid for is teaching atthe Université Libre de
Bruxelles (ULB}-In addition, his photographic plates
Were used in the context of secondaty education,
particulary in agricultural schools. The plates of es
saxpects dela végéationen Helgique were expecially
suitable for this purpase because of thei large
{30 ocr} and their clear, systematic overview of
the Belgian geobotanical regions. Moreover, Massart
‘made the educational space of the classroom
accessible toa large section of the population by
‘means of numerous lectures all over he country and
by special courses at the ULB aimed at the middle and
working lasses”
Right fromthe star, Massart conceived of his
mage archive asa tool for the communication of
‘knowledge: apart from his scientific atlases he
published numerous popularising books, articles,
{ourist guides and similar material” He was
convinced ofthe advantages of modern techniques
for didactic puspotes,steseo photography, for
‘example, served in the geobotantcal atlases as the
‘medigin that allowed the mos faithful depiction of
thevegetation, To create a maximum effect of
immersion, the classroom was transformed into.a
projection ra0m, making use ofthe large collection
of projection slides that was the core of his archive
One step further were the mobile laboratories used
by Massart to organise guided botanical excursions,
especially atthe Belgian coast [By this means the
logic of the classroom was projected back on the
physical landscape
Inthe process of translation from photographic
image to presentation, the work of Massart shifted
from document to discoursein a subtle way. 3
repeatedly stressed that his photographic archive
can
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was. scientific, systematicand therefore objective
registration of he Belgian geobotanical regions~
which he oppored to contemporary artistic and
;pseudo-poetic landscape imagery." Indeed. the
dreamy scenography of simple peasant life that was
characteristic of contemporary pictoialist
landscapes, was absentin Massart’s pinpointsharp
images. The objectifying aim was undeskined by the
data that surround the photographic imagesin the
plates of es Aspects: the date, the coordinates ofthe
‘iewpoint, the direction in which the photo was
taken, and so on, However, considered in iteentitety,
this photographic series was not a neutral inventory
of representative landscapes, Dut constructed a
narrative ofits own. Modern phenomena that had
changed the rural world, such athe railway and
modern agricultural techniques, were left out
Massart created an image of cleatly distinguished
sgeobotanical districts, where the peasants’ way of life
asin close corresponilence with the geographical
features of the landscape, an image ofa reality that
in the early twentieth century had already largely
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