Esthetic Infatuation
by Markus Oberndorfer
Almost Nature deals with the concept of nature. The claim “Almost Nature”, embedded like an image caption in the photograph and in the landscape itself, represents an attempt to consciously examine the landscape and our speaking of nature. For us humans, as creatures of nature who are also capable of culture, the sea is considered just as much as nature, as the (cultivated) landscape just outside the city gates, while the agro-industrial fields are considered the opposite of both. Such a separation is subject to the power of esthetic infatuation that mythically separates what is consistently emerging in hybrid forms as an irreversible interaction of nature and culture.1
Starting from this point I pose the question: Is everything that surrounds us only ‘Almost Nature’? Or is in fact everything (including human beings and their technical achievements) ‘nature’ and only the idea and imagination of what it should represent for us, the reason for having to pose this question in the first place?
It becomes apparent, that our longing for a place — where not work, but the free stimulation of senses and sensation through natures capturing atmospheres2 is the priority —, dominates our discourse about nature and our human condition.
This short essay was written for “Almost Nature”. Published in German & English.
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