In this class we critiqued everyone’s work for Assignment 5 (the map project). I thought this project went really well, and the critiques provoked some good discussion. Now that the new printer is up and running, we’ll try printing everyone’s work and displaying it in the hallway in the Arts & Science building.

While we’re looking at map-related art, I thought some of you might enjoy Brendan Dawes’s Cinema Redux project:

“Cinema Redux creates a single visual distillation of an entire movie; each row represents one minute of film time, comprised of 60 frames, each taken at one second intervals. The result is a unique fingerprint of an entire movie, born from taking many moments spread across time and bringing all of them together in one single moment to create something new.”

Note that the number of frames in each row is not arbitrary, but represents one minute of film. You might think of any artwork as being composed of various small decisions; when there are particular reasons behind these small decisions, the work seems more considered, thoughtful, and stronger.

Check out more of Dawes’s work on his website, brendandawes.com.

During this class we started Assignment 6, which involves working with the concept of an avatar, a graphical representation of a computer user or alter ego. We are also about to finish Assignment 5, the Map project.

I handed out a short reading, “On Cartography” by Lize Mogel, which is from the Experimental Geography: Radical Approaches to Landscape, Cartography, and Urbanism catalogue that I brought to class. Mogel observes that the “enormous amount of recent cultural production involving maps and mapping is reaching a critical mass,” and suggests that this is because changes in technology and society make maps, networks and other non-linear visual representations more relevant:

“The absolute centrality of the internet to metropolitain citizens, saturation of electronic communication, and increased mobility have taught us to understand information as embodied in map/networked form, rather than through linear narratives.”

Mogel is an artist and creates reconfigured maps such as Mappa Mundi and Area of Detail.

In this class we looked at some examples of artists working with maps, geography, and place:

The body as map / the map as body:

• Nikki Rosato
• Eve Bailey – Map-Anatomy
• Annette Messager – Mes Tropheés (pdf)

Map as journal and memory:

• Denis Wood
• Marlene Creates
• Kim Dingle

Examining maps as a manifestation or subversion of power:

• Peter Dykhuis
• William Kentridge – Tapestries
• Paula Scher
• Susan Stockwell

Maps of imaginary worlds:

• Sohei Nishino – i-Land
• Ross Racine

Handmade maps:

• Marlena Zuber
• Leah Evans
• Stephen Walter

Reworked / hacked maps:

• Damon Zucconi – Fata Morgana
• Armelle Caron
• Aram Bartholl – Map
• Helmut Smits – Dead Pixel in Google Earth
• Animals on the Underground

Maps as material:

• Nina Katchadourian
• Matthew Cusick
• Shannon Rankin – Uncharted
• Elisabeth Lecourt

Mapping / travel as drawing or performance:

• Richard Long – A Line Made By Walking
• Jeremy Wood – Traverse Me
• Garvin Nolte – Crossroads

Evelyn Lambart’s The Impossible Map, a National Film Board film produced in 1947, is a fantastic introduction to the difficulty of translating 3D objects into 2D surfaces (and the fine art of producing maps from fresh produce). Check out the National Film Board website for other excellent examples of Canadian short films, documentaries, and animation, including classics such as Log Driver’s Waltz and Paddle to the Sea.

During this class, Halifax artist Peter Dykhuis visited us to talk about his work. Peter is in Corner Brook to install The Harmon Project, an installation with Gil McElroy at Grenfell Art Gallery. It’s great that he was able to visit at this time, since we’re working on a map project, and Peter’s work often involves cartography.

During this class we also looked at some examples of interesting and unusual maps, and watched The Impossible Map by Evelyn Lambart. I brought in two books about artists working with maps: You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination, and Experimental Geography.