Abstract
An exhibit entitled 'Revelatory Landscapes' was held at the San Francisco Museum of Modem Art from May 5 to October 14, 2001. For this Museum's rot off-site outdoor exhibition, five outstanding design teams-Kathryn Gustafson, Hargreaves Associates, Hood Design, Tom Leader Studio, and ADOBE LA-created site-specific installations in Berkeley, Oakland, San Jose, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Each project showcased a hybridization of environmental art and landscape design. The main content revealed through revelatory landscapes were the natural, cultural, and historical palimpsest of the sites-particularly as related to the history of minorities such as Native American, African Americans and Latin Americans-as well as the every day life of ordinary people. To represent these ideas, a juxtaposition of the past and the present was broadly applied. Furthermore, the use of dramatic colors, textures, and forms in consideration of materials coupled with the revelation of natural elements such as wind and sunlight accelerated the effect of this juxtaposition. Every project of the Revelatory Landscapes exhibit requires a phenomenological experience to be appreciated. Via the five senses, these experiences cause a synesthetic experience beyond solely the visual. By examining the projects of 'Revelatory landscapes', the threshold for a new blending between environmental art and landscape design as well as new landscape design strategies that overcome the dichotomy between nature and culture will change and evolve.