State of All the Land

“The myth of the ‘landscape’ as a ‘national landscape’ is always partly constructed. The dynamics of ancient and foreignness, conservation and adaptation, are complex. Alan Sonfist’s famous Time Landscape, an urban parklet reconstructing the pre-colonial East Coast flora, can be classified as critical art, but it can also be interpreted as a phenomenon of eco-xenophobia that re-enacts the invariability of the ‘eternal’ landscape.

The (invasive) plants that alter the landscape can be both useful plants and (former) ornamental plants that have lost the exoticism of their ecological success in their new habitat, such as the now-eradicated Japanese knotweed, which was once a special ornamental plant. The big exception is the pampas grass, a sought-after ornamental plant in many places, including Hungary, but is considered an invasive pest in many places.”