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______________________________________________________________________ The "Zeitschrift für
Semiotik": Abstracts ______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________ David E. Nye Martin Zerlang John Bale Gert Gröning Jutta Voß Svend Erik Larsen Janina Urussowa Detlev Nothnagel Dagmar Schmauks The culture-semiotic function of parks and gardens Svend Erik Larsen, University of Odense Summary. This introductory contribution discusses the approach to gardens and parks as
spaces that differ from their surroundings by reason of their natural constituents such as
plants, animals, water, and rocks and challenges it by referring to denominations such as
"animal park", "park way", "parking lot", "pleasure
park", "theme park", and "kindergarden". It is argued that
gardens and parks cannot be defined by their constituents but only by their cultural and
semiotic functions. This is corroborated by a look back into the history of gardens and
parks and the roles they have played in the leisure culture of various types of
society. Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon and the sublime David E. Nye, University of Odense Summary. The changing attitudes towards nature that developed in North America over the
last two centuries are here studied in the context of travel habits which have changed
considerably as a result of economic and technological progress. The Niagara Falls in the
19th century and the Grand Canyon in the 20th century serve as examples of natural sites
which were first experienced as sublime traces of an almighty creator, then as a source of
strong sensations, and finally as objects of human manipulation. It is pointed out that
the introduction of boat, railway, motorcar, and airplane as means of transport has
changed the tourist’s view of nature and that the respective ways of viewing nature
have been standardized by landscape painting, photography, and film. They brought about
transformations in human attitudes toward nature which have lead to increasing attempts to
remodel it. These attempts are currently culminating in the total replacement of
nature. The zoological garten: the domesticated exotic Martin Zerlang, University of Copenhagen Summary. This contribution describes the emergence of zoological gardens from the
courtly menageries of the 18th century and explains how the practice of exhibiting animals
has changed since the Middle Ages, as a function of prevalent notions of animal, modes of
vision, and concepts of knowing. The notion of the magic animal combined with curious gaze
and knowing in terms of resemblances has brought about the menageries and curio cabinets
of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The mechanistic notion of animal combined with
theatrical gaze and knowing in terms of differences has brought about the animal tableaux
of the Baroque and Enlightenment Ages. The historicist notion of animal combined with the
gaze of show audiences and knowing in terms of origin and kinship has brought about the
animal panoramas of the late 19th century. The ecological notion of animal combined with
the sceptical gaze and the antiprogressive knowledge concept of postmodernism has brought
about the palimpsests and archives of today. This study highlights the cultural functions
of animals varying from totem to pet, which express themselves not only in the design and
furnishing of cages but also in the choice of animal names. The sports field: the game of controlled bodies John Bale, University of Keele, England Summary. Competitive sports are often regarded as a paradigm of life in the Modern Age:
sporting organizations function like machines, stadiums are constructed as factories for
the production of records, and athletes exploit their bodies according to scientific
principles as if they were technical apparatus. The present article relativizes this
modernist conception of sports by showing that even the most anonymous stadiums have many
characteristics of gardens and parks. Attention is drawn to the landscaping of sports
fields as magic worlds, to the emotional identification of fans with their clubs and
athletes, and to the playful interaction between athletes and their audiences. Thus
stadiums appear as places of leisure in the true sense: demarcated spaces in which humans
liberate themselves at fixed time periods from the behavioral codes which govern everyday
life. The historical conditions for the emergence of this type of recreational culture are
investigated on the basis of numerous examples. The small garden: attempts at aesthetic normalization Gert Gröning, Berlin Academy for the Arts ( HdK) Summary. This paper deals with the various components of society which are inclined to
articulate an interest in the artistic design of allotment gardens in Germany. Attempts to
regulate garden structure were undertaken by the City of Frankfurt am Main in the 1920s.
They serve as examples of what is done in order to guarantee a harmonious general
impression of the urban environment. Prospects for the construction of allotment gardens
and proposals for the mass production of bowery huts are described and contrasted with the
ideas of the allotment gardeners themselves. Finally, approaches to garden planning in the
Nazi period are compared with those of present-day Germany. Paths for walking, paths for dancing: park and dancefloor Jutta Voß, Technical University Berlin Summary. Presentations of Baroque dance choreographies have often inspired comparisons
with Baroque gardens. Under Louis XIV all arts were intended to strengthen absolutism.
Hence, such similarities were to be expected, the more since the State had established
academies for the various arts. This assumption is corroborated by a comparative study of
the parallel development of gardening and dancing since the Baroque Age. The relationship
between Renaissance and Baroque gardens resembles that between respective choreographic
practices. Rokoko paths in gardens and in dances both avoid strict symmetry. Such
parallels between parks and dance floors pertain not only to the configurations of paths
but also to the details of step forms and to fashionable accessories.
Prospect Park in Brooklyn: nature in the town Svend Erik Larsen, University of Odense Summary. Based on an analysis of Brooklyn’n Prospect Park, this contribution
describes in diachronic and synchronic perspective the visual signs that constitute the
city park as a comprehensive sign in the context of the spatial forms of modern urban
culture. In the tradition of Peirce, the signs in the park are classified as iconic
(image, diagram, and metaphor), indexical (reagent and designation), and symbolic. The
study concludes that the city park is basically not an iconic sign of nature nor a
symbolic sign of conflict-free human control over nature, but rather a certain type of
public space which is characterized by unrestricted accessibility and freedom of movement.
In this space indexical sign processes take place which allow the individualized
interaction with nature which is typical of modern urban culture. The road between St. Petersburg and Moscow: a model of Russian culture1800–1830 Janina Urussowa, University of Tübingen Summary. Proceeding from Lotman’s distinction between textual and grammatical
cultures, this contribution describes a contrast which became entrenched in Russian
culture after St. Petersburg had been founded in 1703. Textual cultures define themselves
on the basis of exemplary texts that are taken as models for cultural behavior.
Grammatical cultures define themselves on the basis of rules and written laws that are
used to stipulate what is right and wrong. In the first case, whatever happens is right,
whereas in the second, only that happens which is right. Following the European model, the
reforms of Peter the Great changed Russia from a textual culture to a grammatical one;
however, he did not fully succeed. This is why his approach to culture became equated with
St. Petersburg, Europe, and the future, while the textual approach to culture became
equated with Moscow, Asia, and the past. Traveling on the new road from St. Petersburg to
Moscow, which was built in the first third of the 19th century, thus appears to many as a
journey back from the north to the south, from the future to the past, from Europe to
Asia. This is shown to happen at the levels of literature, architecture, and
politics. Laboratory and garten: comparative analysis of landscape design and high-energy physics Detlev Nothnagel, University of Hannover Summary. This study of styles of reasoning is based on two different comparisons. It
starts with an analysis of the historical development of horticulture, which is conceived
as a mode of (re)producing nature in an aesthetic way. The focus is on English and French
styles of landscape design. These are compared with English and French styles of doing
physics, i.e., of approaching nature in a scientific way. This twofold comparative matrix
serves to measure intercultural differences and to determine their historical constancy
and their distribution over rather different domains of action. Dagmar Schmauks, Technical University Berlin Summary. Human attitudes towards plants are ambivalent: on a large scale, plants are
destroyed; on a small scale, they are nurtured. They are regarded as being almost
inanimate or as archetypes of life, as signs of rapid wilting or of eternal growth. The
holy trees of pre-historic times have been transformed by the destruction of forests into
signs of endangered life. Peirce's typology of signs offers a way of classifying the
varied and complex manners in which humans use plants as signs. Serving as indices, plants
indicate time, direction or altitude, evoke memories, or call for actions. As icons, they
draw attention to similarities, e.g., between a shy girl and a violet, which is
flourishing unseen. If such similarities are conventionalized, a symbolism of plants
develops in the context of which a violet becomes a sign of modesty. |
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