[a4] frame and focus

ZOOMING INTO THE SKAGIT

problem statement

Over the past several weeks, the students have been focusing on the scale of the Salish Sea and the Puget Sound. Much of what they have explored were the physical, biological, and hydrological forces that have shaped this landscape. While several projects have engaged how we as a species, homos sapiens (modern humans), have understood and in some instances manipulated the landscapes to meet our needs or prosper, we have yet to really investigate the relationships between people and the transforming landscape.

For this assignment, the students used the concept of the line as they explored some of the larger contemporary narratives that emerge from research into the Skagit. What are the issues (problems and opportunities) that face the river and basin? How have and will actors, elements, and experiences change(d)? What was found?

“Landing is the first act of site acknowledgement, and it marks the beginning of the odyssey of the project. Landing usually invokes displacement and change of speed (as in arrival), but it also conveys the idea of touching ground and reaching for the confines of an unknown world. Landing, therefore invokes the passage from the unknown to the known, from the vastness of the outside world to the more exact boundaries of a specific project.” – Christoph Gir