The Evolution of a Tourist Landscape: Wet Plate Collodion Photographs of the Wisconsin Dells in the Twenty-First Century

Authors

Nick Olson, Lawrence University

Document Type

Honors Project

Publication Date

2008

Abstract

A modern traveler of Wisconsin most often experiences the landscape through the windows of a car: shut in, listening to the latest hits on the radio, traveling at 70 miles per hour through rolling corn fields in the central part of the state. In this state of mind one cannot learn in-depth what potential experience the landscape has to offer. Of course the experience of an asphalt path flying by underneath is a reality in itself but other possible ways to experience the landscape exist. Along all roads, a plethora of billboards distract the traveler from the space through which they are passing. Yet in the middle of Wisconsin, signs can be found advertising the landscape of the Wisconsin Dells as being "World Famous," hopefully directing the attention of drivers to the landscape around them. One sign displays the slogan "The World Famous Wisconsin Dells" written over a photograph created by H.H. Bennett of an exotic rock formation. While the modern Wisconsin Dells is still located on the Wisconsin River near geologically significant rock formations that were once photographed by H.H. Bennett, the Dells has transformed into an exotic twenty-first century tourist town. Through my work, I show how the format of the constructed landscape affects people's perceptions of and interactions with the natural landscape. Changes in the built landscape have caused people's relationship with the natural landscape to also change.

Level of Honors

summa cum laude

Department

Art and Art History

Advisor

Julie Lindemann and John Shimon

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Olson, Nick, "The Evolution of a Tourist Landscape: Wet Plate Collodion Photographs of the Wisconsin Dells in the Twenty-First Century" (2008). Lawrence University Honors Projects. 101.
https://lux.lawrence.edu/luhp/101