Abstract
In March 2007, the Grand Canyon Skywalk opened at the South Rim of one of the largest geological features on Earth. Over the course of the last decade, similar touristic structures have been built around the world, primarily in the European Alps, but also in Norway, Canada, and China, totaling nearly thirty at last count. Common to all of these structures, curiously, is that they project out over the edge of a precipice and feature either a glass floor or a perforated walking surface through which the spectator may gain a view of the deep below, thereby combining a natural geological feature with an artificial, man-made structure, i.e., a kind of “fabricated nature.” What are we to make of the proliferation of these kinds of structures around the world within the last fifteen years? What modes of explanation can we employ to make sense of this new touristic phenomenon? And finally, what does this phenomenon tell us about post-modern wo-/man’s relationship with nature? In my paper, I shed light on and begin to make sense of this recent proliferation of the skywalk phenomenon around the world by approaching it from four different angles – the fears and pressures of economic/touristic development, Kant’s notion of the sublime, the concept of the simulacrum, and the phenomenon of the hyperreal – and to trigger further reflection upon this “amplification of nature.”
Presenters
Harald HoebuschProfessor of German Studies, MCLLC, University of Kentucky, Kentucky, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Changing Dimensions of Contemporary Tourism
KEYWORDS
Skywalk, Nature, Touristic Development, Kant, Simulacrum
