The Commodification of Nature

Unit: Cultural Identities, Texts 212 - The Implications of Modernity
Discussion questions generated for tutorial presentation for teaching week 5.
Answers (as required for submission) attached.

Question 1 - What are the ‘Three natures’? What do these imply about the ways we process nature, especially in terms of ways of seeing? Is it possible to experience first nature?
We can think of the first nature as being a primal nature, the wilderness as it is and was before being altered by human consumption. While he defines the latter two natures, Cicero does not outline what the first nature is, does not even name it as being “first nature.” It is left for us to assume, from the definitions of second and third nature what exactly the first may be.

Cicero defines the second nature as a nature altered by humans to make it more habitable, which can include roads, houses and agricultural land. We may understand that the second nature can be culturally understood to retain its element of “nature” in that these changes are required to make the world “natural” for human existence.

The third nature brings the natural world and art together. It is the alteration of the natural world, not for basic existence, but for aesthetic pleasure.

Since ways of viewing nature are culturally mediated, it is impossible to experience first nature Even if the observed natural landscape is untouched by humans, the act of viewing and processing it instantly alters the way it is viewed. Upon observation, first nature becomes third nature, and the primal land is seen as ‘landscape’ – it is framed within cultural expectations of nature. As Cicero says “we start talking about the grandeur of mountains... first nature has now been subsumed and managed culturally (and arguably has ceased to be a pure form of first nature, slipping into a version of the second.)" (4)

Question 2 - How did gardens (and landscaping in general) shape the ways that people view nature?
Landscaping helps to make the distinction between the first and third natures. It is only through the alteration and management of the natural world through landscaping and gardens that we can understand what the “primal” is. For example, mountains, which still remain largely untouched by human interference, are viewed in the same ways that a landscape painting may be. They are reduced to the grandeur and majesty of the natural world, culturally mediated through the frame placed around them.

It is through the understanding that gardens are the property of an individual or organisation, that ownership of nature itself can be grasped. Landscaping, after all, is little more than human alteration (and thus mastery) of the natural world, far more than second nature. The creation of houses and roads entails the destruction and removal of the natural world, whereas landscaping means its manipulation and continued existence. It is not only proof of human power over the natural environment that exists prior to human alteration, but human power of the living, through the maintenance of introduced elements.

Question 3 - Gardens and theatre have influenced each other’s development. Why were gardens (such as Vauxhall and Ranelaugh) designed the way they were? What function did they serve?
Those entering such gardens were automatically positioned to see the scenery around them in a certain way – that as desired by the creators and owners of the gardens themselves. These perspective illusions were created through the use of what would have been considered conventions of theatre.

If we also consider the idea that the world is a stage, then we can see that certain gardens were used as stages, and the patrons within were nothing more than actors in the play. This can be seen through the construction of gardens that had their own amphitheatre spaces, and areas that could clearly view others while not being a direct part of them. Social relations could be played out within the garden setting, and viewed for all as a sort of “play.” Some garden areas were, and still are, used for actual theatre settings. King's Park, for example, uses its botanical gardens as a stage for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Gardens allow the use of nature in theatre without the need for a use of set pieces.

Scenes of nature were also presented to garden patrons, through the use of painted scenery. Further than this, gardens presented an idea of nature – were a stage on which nature was placed, on which it acted and was presented to those within it. It made the transition between first and third natures, making the wilderness an art form that can be appreciated by humans within their cultural positioning.

Question 4 - What is the fourth nature and where can it be seen?
One version of the fourth nature could be the simulation of the natural world through human constructions. This could be for the replacement of a natural world that is slowly being overtaken by human consumption. It is second nature taken a step further: it is not simply that altered nature is ‘natural’ for human existence, but rather that nature must become and exist as the manipulated, most likely through complete decimation of the actual natural habitat.

We may see it in examples even around Perth – the Convention Centre, built to look like a gum leaf from above, the Bell Tower which is meant to imitate the appearance of a swan, and many more besides. The emergence of such a nature could have come about as the world moves into a more technological stage that retains no place for the natural environment, but instead a human longing for the wilderness that once was.

Reading
Hunt, John Dixon. Gardens and the Picturesque: Studies in the History of Landscape Architecture. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992. 3-16, 49-73.