The Dictionary of Human Geography

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increasingly ‘networked’ world, and the best

terminology (such as that of place versus

region). ja

Suggested reading

Entrikin and Brunn (1989); Sack (1997).

art Geography has a long-standing and

multifarious relationship with art.geography’s

literal meaning as ‘earth writing’ and its con-

cern with visualrepresentationhave often

brought the discipline into close involvement

with artistic practices, with geographical

knowledge frequently being dependent upon

skills of visual survey and graphic recording

such as sketching, drafting and painting,

especially during the period of European

exploration(Cosgrove, 1999). The signifi-

cance of an aesthetic sensibility continued

through muchcultural geographyandre-

gional geographyin the early twentieth cen-

tury; for example, in Carl Ortwin Sauer’s

studies ofcultural landscapesand in the

pictorial language with which Paul Vidal de

la Blache referred to landscape description.

Geographical interest in visual art has taken

many forms. These include studies of repre-

sentations of spaces, places and environments

in a range of artistic media, especially in terms

of the politics of representation, ideology,

identity and the construction ofimaginative

geographies. Also important is geographical

research on art production (e.g. the formation

of local, regional and national artistic tradi-

tions; the role of arts industries in economic

and urban change; the spaces of artistic cre-

ativity); on art dissemination and reception

(including through artistic networks, institu-

tions, audiences, and public engagement with

and contestation of works of art); and on art

practices (as embodied creative processes, as

expressions and forms of geographical know-

ledge, as interventions in and performances of

spaces and places).

Geography’s reconstitution as aspatial sci-

encein the 1950s and 1960s sidelined such

artistic considerations, although a concern

with visualization and the aesthetics of order

can be discerned in geometric spatial model-

ling (Gregory, 1994).humanistic geography

brought an interest in the expressive and emo-

tional engagement of art with places through

its emphasis on subjectivity and human ex-

perience. The emergence of a politicized cul-

tural geography in the 1980s, influenced by

marxismas well as social histories of art and

broader currents of cultural theory, turned

critical attention to the social conditions and

power relations through which art is produced

as part of a concern with the politics of repre-

sentation. Significant studies focused on the

constitution of the Western idea of landscape

as a ‘way of seeing’, and on its role in natural-

izing class and property relations, in articulat-

ing visions of national identity, and in

legitimating colonial interests (e.g. Daniels,

1993; Cosgrove, 1998 [1984]). Feminist

critics also emphasized the importance of gen-

der relations andsexualityin discussions of

visuality and landscape (see alsovision and

visuality).

Recent geographical interest in art has be-

come more extensive and diverse. While

much work remains focused on visual and

iconographicreadings of artefacts such as

paintings, drawings,maps, photographs, land-

scapes, architecture,monumentsand sculp-

tures, research has also addressed the

spatialities of sound art, land art, street art,

music, video,film, performance and dance,

among other fields. Attention has turned in

particular to artistic practices and to the em-

bodied, processual and performative elements

of art (seeperformance). Studies have thus

drawn out the bodily practices and sensory

immersion in places involved in visual art pro-

duction (Crouch and Toogood, 1999), and to a

lesser extent viewing and reception. They have

also explored the ways in which modern and

contemporary artistic practices have directly

engaged with urban and rural geographies,

from attempts by twentieth-century avant-

gardes such as the dadaists, surrealists and

situationiststo break down divisions between

art and everyday spaces, to more recent ‘works’

and interventions by performance artists, con-

ceptual artists, community artists and others.

The latter often take collectivist, collaborative,

ethnographic or dialogical approaches, based

not on the individualized production of aes-

thetic objects but on practices such asurban

explorations, walks, participatory events, in-

vestigations of social spaces and sites, and

interactions with groups and communities.

They are also frequently politicized or activist,

forging public arenas for political discussion

and critical engagement with the processes

through which spaces are produced (Deutsche,

1996b; for examples, see Cant and Morris,

2006; and the ‘Cultural geographies in prac-

tice’ section of the journalCultural Geograph-

ies). Alongsideresearchingsuch art, a number

of geographers are collaborating with artists

(e.g. Driver, Nash, Prendergast and Swenson,

2002). Some are further experimenting them-

selves with artistic and performative practices

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_A Final Proof page 36 31.3.2009 9:44pm

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