Thomas Kissling – författare

Anyone viewing what we call a “landscape” from a distance will recognise that it is an artefact, a habitat created by humans as part of our built environment. Designing this realm carefully is a discipline that is taking on increasing importance today. Günter Vogt, with his practice in VOGT Landscape Architects and as a professor at ETH Zürich, has developed a set of tools and a working method that incorporate all the different dimensions of the human-designed environment, from the large-scale landscape to the small-scale urban public space. 'Mutation and Morphosis' looks at all the many aspects involved in the collective process of designing and shaping landscapes, from planning to implementation. The model as a tool and the collection as a driving force are illustrated on the basis of an astonishing variety of topics. In theoretical discussions and the examination of detailed dossiers of facts on the ground, a trajectory is traced: from the emergence of new landscapes as a result of climate change to the migrationof the wolf to Central Europe, from the impact of invasive plants to the study of geological formation processes. The panorama that unfolds gives us insights into the broad context that landscape architects must consider in their work, exemplified by the outstanding projects realized by VOGT.

The Alpine region is characterized by a great diversity in all spatial dimensions and qualities. This circumstance is not to be read primarily as the result of administrative drawing of borders, but first of all as an expression of the alpine topography, determined at the same time by intensive cultivationby humankind.However, the assumption that this configuration, seen against a background of massive rocks and steep ridges, is a steady formation would be misleading. For the Alps are not a stable structure, but a dynamic and sensitive organism. Here, boundaries are ceaselessly overcome and continuously shifted. This goes hand in hand with a change in perception and is conditioned by natural dynamics, transforming cultural practices and the bridging of topographical obstacles, whereby the Alps are not only opened up internally, but at the same time integrated into an overall European context. Thus, over a long period of time, a space was created in which the most diverse things came together and were interwoven with the local. However, this principle of interaction is increasingly giving way to a one-sided claim from the outside. At the same time, the nature and manner of human access have themselves taken on geological dimensions.In the context of the 17th Venice architecture biennial, contributions by Vogt Landscape Architects and the Chair of Günther Vogt at ETH Zurich, Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies illuminate individual manifestations of this dynamic landscape with a view to hydrological, biological and geological aspects. Moving Borders documents the contributions at the Biennale and complements them with scientific essays, artistic works and comprehensive photographs taken during fi eld trips to the Alps.