Durango Artposium: Mapping in the Arts: Ways of Seeing
September 7-9, 2008
Why?
Maps have fascinated humans for 16,500 years. From a prehistoric cave painting of the Summer Triangle constellation in Lascaux (Paleolithic Era) to a Turkish wall depicting the town of Çatalhöyük (6200 B.C.) to Google Earth, civilizations have recorded their existence. Maps seem to be part of our DNA, indeed the Human Genome Project is mapping each gene on our chromosomes. Mapping leads to discoveries and is a tool for envisioning possibilities. Maps shape our memory and future, change the way we view the world and inspire the artistic process. Maps show us where we were, where we are and where we can go--what a rich topic for inquiry!
What?
The Artposium in Durango, “Mapping in the Arts: Ways of Seeing,” looked at mapping from multiple perspectives. Peter Turchi, author of Maps of the Imagination: The Writer as Cartographer, drew parallels between mapping and writing. New York gallery owner Julie Saul illuminated the work of artists who create conceptual maps to make sense of their experiences. Nikos Salingaros, a physicist, artist, and author, discussed how biophilic mapping (architecture based on forms found in nature) enhances the emotional health of a building’s inhabitants. Mary Ellen Long, a visual artist, and Grace Cavalieri, a poet and playwright, along with movement artist Kathryn Moller, mapped a 43-year friendship in written word, spoken word, sound, installation and movement.
Bill Stoehr (an artist and cartographer) and Gavin Maurer (a musician and vice-president of marketing for National Geographic Maps) led a discussion on how mapping can help the creative process. Kulu Sadira and Steve Self presented a multi-media dialogue on art, artists and the how Ken Wilber’s integral map guides artists within a larger community.
Where Next?
How can the arts chart a course for change in society?
What if a cartographer, landscape designer, economist, poet and painter created a redevelopment plan for a rural town?
Where do conceptual maps lead us?
“Novelists draw up the map of existence by discovering this or that human possibility.”
-- Milan Kundera, The Art of the Novel
“Like memory, geography is associative. In this process I call orientating we all carry a personal atlas in our brains.”
-- Stephen S. Hall, “I, Mercator” in You are Here: Personal Geographies (Katherine Harmon)
“I made the map of the island; it was elaborately and (I thought) beautifully coloured; the shape of it took my fancy beyond expression; it contained harbours that pleased me like sonnets; and with the unconsciousness of the predestined, I ticketed my performance Treasure Island."
-- Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
Let's start at the beginning:
Earth isn't the earth:
The map isn't the territory.
The territory isn't the map.
A map is an image.
A map is a way of speaking.
A map is a gathering of memories.
A map is a proportional representation.
-- Alberto Blanco, “Maps” (Copper Canyon Press)
"A map of the real world is no less imaginary than a map of the imaginary world."
-- Alberto Blanco, “Maps” (Copper Canyon Press)
"A map is an artistic manifestation of the fear
of the unknown."
-- Alberto Blanco, “Maps” (Copper Canyon Press)
"The map of you is like this, all lines, all
Words. So is the great, folded map of me.
All wrinkles. That's the map of us
The world gets, and then believes:
We are what the map is supposed to do.
We are the up and the down of things,
But a map has the folds drawn on, and easy enough.
Ours are earned and not flat at all.
-- Alberto Alvaro Rios, “What We’ve Done to Each Other”
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“I returned home with new ideas for improving my work. This is the first conference I've attended that did so much for me as a writer.”
– Artposium Attendee
“The intellectual and creative stimulation at the Artposium offered in an atmosphere of openness and humor.”
– Artposium Attendee
It is the opportunity to see, hear, and experience interpretations of the theme through the creative minds of the presenters and participants that makes the Artposium so thought-provoking and stimulating.” – Artposium Attendee
“Artistic creation is a voyage into the unknown. In our own eyes, we are off the map.”
-- Peter Turchi: Maps of the Imagination
Resources
Else/Where: Mapping New Cartographies of Networks and Territories edited by Janet Abrams and Peter Hall: http://www.elsewheremapping.com/
Julie Saul Gallery: http://www.saulgallery.com/ chronicle/uncharted_territory.html
Peter Turchi: http://www.peterturchi.com/
You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination by Katharine Harmon: http://www.tatteredcover.com/NASApp/store/ Product?s=showproduct&isbn=9781568984308