Landscape architecture, public space and public art in Peru

Abstract

In this paper are discussed some topics of my doctoral dissertation “Rethinking space for peruvian public art”, presented in the doctoral program “Espacio público y Regeneración Urbana; arte, teoría y conservación del Patrimonio” of the Barcelona University, under the direction of Dr. Antoni Remesar.
The main topic of the thesis concerns the construction of Peruvian landscape and public art as the most important element of this process. Here art, architecture and landscape design of ancient Peruvian cultures challenge the contemporary aesthetic mainstream, a context affected by a diffuse misunderstanding of the very concept of public art and its practical and social applications. Such a study makes possible not only the comprehension of ancestral foundations and cultural values, but also their eventual embodiment into current Peruvian public art projects.
It also includes a detailed research of contemporary Peruvian artists, whose work (most of it almost or completely destroyed) is an important evidence of an original reinterpretation of their ancient cultural roots. Samples of spontaneous landscape designs that can be found in the rural Peru are also investigated and formally classified; these could be seen as the result of an implicit influence of the very ancestral traditions I’m concerned of.
The thesis’ conclusions are presented as a set of procedures and practical advices (including conceptual foundations and artistic and social parameters) to help contemporary Peruvian artists develop an alternative and socially committed urban landscape design and public art model.
This paper discusses specifically the different configurations of Peruvian landscape, from prehispanic cultures to contemporary art, in order to identify which elements have been lost, rescued, restored, recycled or reinvented within the eclectic, chaotic and cryptic forms of the actual condition of Peruvian landscape.