Landscape becomes Stage

Is what I see here reality or fiction?

Laura Roth’s "Landscape Becomes Stage" explores human intervention in natural environments and the staging of landscapes. It questions our relationship with nature and how our imagination and conditioning shape our views. The term “nature” is deconstructed as a human-shaped form. From childhood, our environment influences us, placing people at the center of socio-constructivism and making us responsible for shaping landscapes. We alter landscapes to fit our needs, using them as stages for human presence. The photographs depict artificially designed places: a replica forest with lifebuoys, an artificial sea, a plastic horizon, wallpaper clouds, an artificial island, and a stylized desert. They evoke Truman's world, presenting only staged scenes, hiding the real interventions in nature. Roth contrasts this with a stainless steel herbarium featuring preserved and "original" landscape images, prompting reflection on the memories and stories these landscapes hold. The reflection creates a spatial fold, generating something new.

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Is what I see here reality or fiction?
Laura Roth`s work Landscape Becomes Stage investigates human intervention in natural environments and the associated staging of landscapes. It addresses important questions that arise as soon as we think about the relationship between humans and nature. The human imagination and conditioning of our view of nature plays an essential role. The focus is on questioning and deconstructing the term “nature”, especially as a form of appearance that has been reshaped by humans. From an early age, we are shaped by the environment in which we grow up. People are at the center of the socio-constructivist perspective and bear responsibility for shaping the landscape. Landscapes and atmospheres are changed to suit human needs. Through these changes, we are staging nature and increasingly using landscapes as a stage on which human presence and needs are clearly visible. The photographs depict places that were artificially designed and simulated. You can see a replica of a forest with lifebuoys lying in this artificial environment. There is an artificial sea, a plastic horizon, clouds, and a blue sky in wallpaper form. An artificial island and a stylized desert are also shown. A connection to Truman`s world can also be made. Without exception, these photographs depict simulated landscapes that line up like scenes and stage themselves. However, only the staging becomes visible, not the interventions in nature that lie behind it. Like a curtain on a stage, fiction often hides the reality that lies behind it. In contrast, Roth presents a herbarium made of stainless steel with preserved landscape images, and “original” landscape scenes. Each sphere encourages us to think about whether these landscapes hold memories of our planet and what stories the simulated landscapes tell us in comparison. The reflection of the spherical worlds creates a spatial fold in which something new is created.