Simulating Nature: Artistic Reflections on Urban Environments

Abstract

On a hot summer day, I found myself walking down a narrow ‘hutong 胡同’ alley in the old town of Beijing 北京. The sidewalk tiles had fractured and split, as the roots of a tree pushed through the concrete surface, causing the rigid urban layer to crack. The tree and its roots were growing next to a utility box – a grey, metallic structure essential to the city’s function. Patches of artificial greenery softened its utilitarian appearance, small squares of plastic leaves and grass simulating a scene in ‘nature’. Yet many of these plastic plants had fallen to the ground, covering the sidewalk in a fragmented simulation of nature, while the real tree roots emerged, unrestrained by the city’s plan. This essay will introduce three artistic positions that work with both the construction and simulation of nature within our urban environments. By creating her own miniature ideal landscapes, Johanna K. Becker demonstrates through her sculptures how our idea of nature and landscape is constructed. The work by Liu Zhangbolong 刘张铂泷 and Gongyu 宫羽 documents a phenomenon in Beijing’s urban space, giant green mushrooms spreading all over the city, which has led to speculation about their function and purpose on social media platforms like Weibo. The essay will end with a discussion of the work by Juliet Carpenter and Cameron Ahloo-Matamua that reflects on how simulation is ultimately unable to fulfil our desires of place.