Fields of Dreams: Landscapes of Myth and Imagination

Brock University | Oct 01, 09 to Oct 03, 09 |

Greenscapes ~ Sense and Meaning, is a biannual event that explores connective aspects of environmental culture in landscape architecture, literature, art, history and urban design. The theme of this year’s Greenscapes conference, “Fields of Dreams: Landscapes of Myth and Imagination”, focuses on the role of the landscape as a repository of conscious and unconscious cultural hopes, fears and desires.  

From the Garden of Eden to aboriginal Dreamtime, societies have perceived their surrounding natural environment to express cultural values reflected in their myths, legends, sacred texts and belief systems. The conference focuses the importance of recognizing the cultural history of these relationships in a time of global environmental urgency. In the light of recent environmental events that promise to have a long-term effect on both social infrastructure and cultural psyche, such as the water crisis in Kashechwan and the destruction of New Orleans, this is an appropriate moment to explore ways in which we respond to our environments. 

Giles Blunt, critically acclaimed author of Forty Words for Sorrow, will open the conference on Thursday, October 1 with a free public lecture on real and imagined Canadian landscapes. Marjorie Harris, popular columnist for The Globe and Mail, will deliver a closing keynote to conference participants on the perception and construction of Canada’s “natural” landscape on Saturday, October 3. 

The scope of the conference ranges from antique to modern, from the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to WWII ‘Blighty’, and includes representations of the environment in multiple media: text and textile, public art and private artifact, monument and theatre. During the conference, Rodman Hall will be exhibiting the work of Monica Tap and Michel Daigneault exploring responses to the modern commuter landscape. There will also be a tour of the Walker Botanical Garden and a Soundwalk led by artist Elizabeth Chitty. 

Full conference registration is $175, one-day and student registration is $90. Please visit http://www.brocku.ca/greenscapes/ for more information. 

Located in the Niagara greenbelt, Brock University occupies a unique position on a World Biosphere Reserve.  

This event has been made possible with the assistance of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Humanities Research Institute.