Tianze Luo

Process Ⅰ: Grazing Boundary

In the process of long-term settlement formation, agricultural activities formed unique seasonal characteristics due to unique climatic conditions, limited areas of pasture and slow growth of pasture. Typically, during the spring and summer, the local people move their cattle and sheep to distant pastures (right). From the farm (left), they cross the icy glacial river to the other bank, and then through a stretch of mossy land with acidic soil to reach the pasture.

When winter comes, they bring the animals back to the farm to prevent livestock casualties caused by the changing seasons of winter, and to allow the grasslands on the opposite bank to resume growth

Process Ⅱ: Mottled Vegetation

Mottled vegetation refers to the process in which different plants compete with each other in the form of natural succession to occupy living space. In the process, boundaries between habitats of different species are created, as well as some edges caused by human activities. In this space of Vatnajökull, the extreme climate makes the change of habitat more complicated. Thus, the mottled vegetation represents a natural and vegetation-based reflection of the ecosystem’s response to climate change.

Over time, the acidic soil, which was originally barren and only capable of supporting moss, gradually grew short grasses and herbs, and the presence of herbs brought more organic matter, which gradually formed different edges of the soil, and since then, different habitat forms. The ecological niche originally belonging to moss was gradually replaced by dwarf grasses and small shrubs, and the final top-level succession form was the formation of shrub communities dominated by dwarf grasses and small shrubs, and the area of moss was greatly reduced.

Processing Ⅲ: Shifting farming

Shifting farming refers to a dynamic change of agricultural behavior in which local people constantly change the process of agricultural planting and production under the influence of uncertain water environment. Considering the direct effect of water on soil and then on agriculture, the research object of the boundary of change here will be soil, and the dynamic process of changing soil by different water environments will be discussed, thus changing the productive landscape.

With the change of time, in the wet season, the nearshore side of the river bank will be eroded by greater velocity, and the lack of tall trees and rich vegetation as the protection of the shore, the shape of the river bank will often change, and then agricultural land will often retreat or migrate. The destination of migration is the inland highland or flat fertile buffer zone, so the agricultural behavior has a dynamic character.

Model picture

Different material models are used to recreate the texture and current situation of the site, including clay with different humidity and 3d printing.