OASE93

The text examines the way the landscape is represented through the medium of television on the basis of three television programmes: The Making of the English Landscape (Great Britain, 1973), Vlaanderen in vogelvlucht (Belgium, 1976) and Nederland van boven (the Netherlands, 2011-2013), starting from the premise that both maker and viewer become part of a constellation that is not merely about the depiction of the landscape, but includes the calibration and recalibration of our relationships to the land and to each other. Thus, the mass medium television plays an important part in the construction of national identity.

A close reading of the three programmes is followed by a reflection on how television relates to the public sphere, starting from the observation that this relationship is more and more likely to become problem- atic in an era where the media are shifting towards entertainment and consumption.