Power/politics and control, Surveillance, Urban context, Anarchic Spaces

Questions about space versus place: Territory, boundary, affected. Are you being watched? Are you different when you become aware of being watched? How does architecture, planning and social space shape the way we move in it. Who controls space? What about anarchic spaces?

...Move along, keep left, filter, get in lane....

Place and Space

Whilst researching place and space this week, I came across an artist called Krzysztof Wodiczko. His projected images are integrated into the architecture of the building or monument, whether a facade, an arch, a column, a flight of steps, or a statue. These buildings or monuments have often become part of the scenery for passers-by (space). Through images the artist raises questions that renew and update the building's basic function. In a way he enriches, transforms and manipulates the initial message of public architecture in order to shock, to denounce and to arouse public opinion.

Place and Space

I'm currently reading a book by Nick Kaye, site-specific art (performance, place and documentation), after last week's session I thought that some of the following quotes might be of interest. Each statement makes me consider place and space in a slightly different way:

The moving about that the city multiples and concentrates makes the city itself an immense social experience of lacking a place [ . . . ] The identity furnished by this place is all the more symbolic (named) because, in spite of the inequality of its citizens’ positions and profits, there is only a population of passers-by, a network of residences temporarily appropriated by pedestrian traffic, a shuffling among pretences of the proper, a universe of rented spaces haunted by a nowhere or by dreamed-of places.  (de Certeau 1984: 103)

Space, as frequentation of places rather than a place stems in effect from a double movement: the traveller’s movement, of course, but also a parallel movement of the landscapes which he catches only in partial glimpses, a series of ‘snapshots’ piled hurriedly into his memory and, literally, recomposed in the account he gives of them [ . . . ] Travel [ . . . ] constructs a fictional relationship between gaze and landscape.  (Auge 1995: 86)

Place and non-place are rather like opposed polarities: the first is never completely erased, the second never totally completed; they are like palimpsests on which the scrambled game of identity and relations is ceaselessly rewritten. But non-places are the real measure of our time.  (Auge 1995: 79)

Our encounter with objects in space forces us to reflect on our selves, which can never become ‘other,’ which can never become objects for our external examination. In the domain of real space the subject-object dilemma can never be resolved.  (Morris 1993c: 165)

American Land Art Movement Part 2

Robert Smithson’s ‘Spiral Jetty’ is another iconic land art work. Tons of earth and basalt were moved to create a large spiral in the great Salt Lake, Utah. The materials used were local. The work has been changed over time by the formation of salt crystals and the changes in water level, as the artist intended.



Christo & Jeanne-Claude also made many interventions in the landscape which dramatically altered the appearance of the space. They are famous for wrapping buildings- notably the Reichstag, altering it’s appearance and changing perception of what it stood for. They made many works in the landscape, often dividing areas - Valley curtain in Colorado and Running Fence in California - with large sheets of nylon and other materials. The surrounded islands in Florida are very spectacular. The strong message is about boundary and territory. Their works are temporary and involve the use of much labour and materials, but do not leave any impact.


www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/B/bigart/gallery_2_gallery_2.html
www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/its-a-wrap-the-wonderful-world-of-christo-489276.html
www.christojeanneclaude.net/errors.html

American Land Art Movement

The American Land Art movement, started in the 1960s, wanted to move art out from galleries and away from the European traditions of sculpture. Michael Heizer wrote ‘The museums and collections are stuffed….. but real space exists’. They began to work in remote unoccupied areas of America. Many of Michael Heizer’s works were about removing mass to create a work, rather than building with materials. In 1968 he made 9 Nevada Depressions. ‘Rift’ was a large zig-zag shape, measuring 158m x 4.5m x 3m, ‘Isolated mass’ was a loop shape 366m x 36m x 3m, both cut into a dried up lake. ‘Double Negative’ made in 169-70 involved excavating 240,000 tons of earth and rock to create 2 giant trenches facing each other across a valley, with overall measurements of 457 x 15 x 9m. The large scale of the work would overpower any human walking through it, yet it in turn is dwarfed by it’s surroundings. These works are about the human scale in the landscape against the background of time. Many of the works erode and decay. It is impossible to appreciate the scale of these works from photographs. The works are difficult to see in their entirety from the ground and give different appearances from different aspects.They are difficult to visit because of the location. Double Negative still exists and is visited, although locals do not know of it.



www.doublenegative.tarasen.net/double_negative.html/
www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/june/05/sculpture-entrenched-earth
Jeffery Kastner, Brian Wallis 1998 Land & Environmental Art Phaidon

Garden Visiting

Day visiting by residents is the biggest area of tourism in the UK with 870 million tourist days spent per year. This was first popular in Victorian times when the advent of the railways enabled ordinary working men and women to go out for day trips. Garden visiting is one of the most popular activities for the ‘day-out’ which is such a part of English Family life. In the crowded cities, most people have small gardens and live in close proximity to their neighbours. By visiting a garden they get the benefits of the countryside, fresh air, pleasant surroundings but without any risk. They have the security of the being in a safe environment among other people, but without any need to interact with them. They know they are entitled to be there as they are members or have paid their fee and there is the comfort and confidence of nearby facilities, - toilets, restaurants. Gardens evolve throughout the year, so visiting in different seasons gives different experiences. Many gardens now stress their environmental credentials by having wildflower and wildlife habitats. These all contribute to the visitors feeling of well-being and of taking part in a worthwhile activity. Many of the great gardens have substantial visitor numbers. For example Wisley , the home of the Royal Horticultural Society - 800,000, Kew gardens and Wakehurst Place (housing the Millenium seed bank) joint visitor numbers of 1,900,000 .
http://www.torismtrade.org.uk/
http://www.hortweek.com/

Alton Towers

Alton Towers has 2.7 million visitors a year. It started life as an attraction in 1814 when the owner developed the garden in the ‘picturesque’ style, by filling it with a collection of foreign buildings – a greek monument, roman colonnade, gothic temple, greek temple, a Chinese pagoda, fountains , grottos and many other decorative features.. These were sited in a bare valley and planted with sapling trees. John Loudon a noted horticulturist of the time said it was ‘ in excessively bad taste…the mark of a morbid imagination joined to the command of unlimited resources’
150 years on the trees have grown up around the buildings and mellowed them and the park is home to a new collection of bizarre buildings , forming the Alton Towers theme park. The attractions are mainly aimed at teenagers on day visits, although the site has been trying to appeal to families more without losing its attraction to the younger thrill-seeking audience. The fanzine website of Alton Towers claims it is considering cloud-seeding as a way of controlling the climate and giving visitors a perfect day out weatherwise. If true, this would be the ultimate in manipulating the environment in pursuit of profits.
Arthur Hellyer 1980 Gardens of genius Hamlyn page 31
http://www.towersalmanac.com/

Will Alsop Creative Prison

Will Aslop was commissioned to come up with a design idea which would aid prisoners' rehabilitation as well as providing a better, more humane standard of living. He came up with the idea of creating a village of small blocks of self contained cells providing the prisoner with his own key, which would aid in building self respect and also reducing the prisoners' vulnerability from other prisoners. His ideas and approach of course was met with many objections. Prisons should be a place of punishment, why should it ? do two wrongs make things right ? If we take a good look at history it does not seem to have worked very well so far !

Richard Serra

Richard Serra (born 1939 in San Francisco ) is a sculptor who works with large sheet metals. He is concerned with how people move within space. His large scale metal sculptures dictate the relationship you the viewer as with the sculpture itself as well as the space in which the sculptures are placed . The sculptures force you to either move around , within or on its form manipulating your actions within a defined space. As you can see from the above example, 'Matter Of Time ' 2005 Guggenheim Museum Bilboa

mis-GUIDE

mis-GUIDE
On the subject of having to follow defined paths around places we visit I thought this would be relevant.
The idea, instead of setting out a set route from which to experience place, is to give starting points/ideas from which people can get off the routine path and see even familiar sights from a different perspective. Take a peak, break the boredom.

Click Here to Listen: Niagara Stories from This American Life

'The classic story of America is the story of people who started with nothing, pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, and made something of themselves. The story of the town of Niagara Falls is the opposite. The town started with something huge — the Falls — and built nothing lasting from it. The modern history of Niagara Falls can be divided roughly into three phases: schemers who came in trying to exploit the Falls for tourism, and failed; schemers who came in and tried to exploit the Falls for hydroelectric power, who've all gone; and the people who are left in Niagara today. Our show is about this last group: people who live in the aftermath.'

Ira Glass: This American Life, Niagara, 1999

PCAD 500: The Phenomena of Theme Parks and Other Destinations

The relentless demand for entertainment 'experiences' and 'difference,' away from home, is discussed in this session. Are we seeking real, authentic experiences? Or something else? Perhaps something fake, merely similar to reality, or even inauthentic, because it seems we do appreciate the dissonance between the 'real' and the 'representation.' Baudrillard's theories: Simulacra and Simulation, and the hyper real have been discussed as well as ideas of globalism and localism.


The 'Real' Middle Earth

Controlled Enviroment: Phenomenon Of Theme Parks and Destinations

Westin Bonaventure is the largest Hotel in Los Angeles California , it is 367 ft (112 mtr ) tall, with 35 floors , the top floor comprises of a revolving restaurant and bar. It was designed and built by John Portman. The building came to my attention whilst reading an exerpt from a writing by Fredric Jameson. He states that this building "typifies the logic of Post-modernism and social organization."

It does this from the very outset of your interaction with it. The hotel has 3 entrances, none of which directly bring you to the reception, ensuring that the design layout is controlling your movement throughout the hotel taking you past in built retail outlets. Jameson believes that the hotel is trying to be a city, a contained controlled environment, " The Bonaventure aspires to being a total space, a complete world, a kind of miniature city" The positioning of the revolving restaurant ensures you have views of the whole city without you having to leave the hotel. In the book Rethinking Architecture (Cultural logic of late capitalism, pg. 242). Jameson goes on to explain and explore how other aspects of the hotel's design has been created specifically to manipulate the user and also to point out that John Portman the architect is also a businessman and multimillionaire developer !

Group Identity and Stereotypes

Pensioner – Pensioners have a very negative image. ‘Pensioner’ conjures up a group of white-haired elderly people, probably having lost many of their faculties, perhaps living in retirement homes – all sat in chairs around a room. Social events portrayed are usually things like bingo or lunch clubs. Many of the problems that pensioners face – poverty, isolation, ill-health are real and contribute to this image. If older people are active and leading interesting lives they are often treated in a very patronizing manner, particularly by the media. There are numerous older people living rewarding and constructive lives, but as a group they are generally considered apart and not on the same wavelength as the rest of the population.

Pensioner Space.
In America there are ‘retirement communities’ where the whole population is over 55. Although at first sight these look a bit like ‘the Trueman Show’, there are many benefits for people living in these communities. You have to be quite comfortably off to afford to live in such a place, but the facilities are excellent, there are sports activities and social activities of all kinds and they are set in large acreages, often in areas with a good climate such as Florida. Here pensioners do not have to face the many difficulties of the wider world that older people often fear– random crime, aggression, isolation. However it is very false to live with such a limited range of similar people in a small community.
http://www.thevillages.com/

Southerner. I was born in Brighton and consider myself a southerner and feel more at home in the south. The general image of southerners, particularly those from the south east is probably slightly stand-offish and well-off as opposed to friendly, down-to-earth northerners with ever open doors. These are both a false stereotypes, but reinforced by advertising and television programmes.
I lived in Norfolk for 25 years, a county notorious for being unwelcome to non-Norfolk people and having a ‘drawbridge’ mentality. Geography is often cited as the reason for the closedness of Norfolk society – Norfolk is not on the way to anywhere else, it is the end of the road. I had a good life there and did have some good friends who were Norfolk-born, but most of my friends were incomers whose husbands job’s had taken them to Norfolk and who were more open to outsiders. The Norfolk accent is very particular. Regional (and class) accents are another way a group of people can recognise each other and join together or exclude others.

The Strange Maps Blog

Just a quick link before I forget to post it at all.

The Strange Maps blog gathers together a unique selection of maps - some humourous, some artistic, but all interesting - which should prove useful to anyone looking to explore the concept of mapping further for their essay.

Session 2: Mapping and Territories

Following last weeks discussion on borders and identity, I started to look at fine artists that use mapping in their work. I came across Guillermo Kuitca, whose work is predominantly influenced by maps, landscapes, location and sometimes the represssive recent history of Argentina and his own childhood memories. This also brought me to the link that also included Amar Kanwar, whose work deals with the theme "borders", definitely worth a look.

Community Conservation Development of Lake Turkana Kenya

Report on the development of eco-tourism as a source of income and a way to preserve the culture of the Turkana and wildlife of lake turkana.

The Turkana nomadic pastoralists of Lake Turkana (the jade sea) Kenya

Most of Turkana are cattle herders, some engage in small-scale agriculture and fishing on Lake Turkana. Their traditional way of life is threatened due drought.In order to assist the Turkana combat drought conditions, water wells are being drilled and the water stored in concrete basins. With year round access to water, the Turkana are now becoming less nomadic and starting to settle.

My Own Private Idaho - My Own Private Idaho movie scene Photo

My Own Private Idaho - Movie Scene Photo

From what I remember this scene sees River Phoenixs' character stood at the side of yet another road wating for someone to pick him up and take him somewhere else; doesn't really seem to matter where. Talks about how he's seen the road before, always looks the same; ' like a fucked up face'. Most poignant at the end where he collapses at side of the never ending road and as the camera slowly pulls away you see cars pull up, people rifle his pockets and take his shoes- till good old Hans turns up and loads the sleeping body into the backseat of his car, again.
So theres the classic American road movie vistas but also the spaces of the underclass/subculture in the squats and hang outs of the beggers and hustlers.

Neue Nationalgalerie

The Neue Nationalgalerie was designed by Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe in Berlin in 1964. As the name suggests it was intended to be used as a gallery for contemporary art however its design never lent itself to this purpose. Mies designed this building in response to his personal feelings on Berlin, its identity and its future. The building consists of floor to ceiling glass windows on each of the external walls, the interior has no walls (how were paintings meant to be displayed?) Mies wanted to create a public space that was free, open and see through, he his quoted as saying "it was a universal space " This was obviously his response to the Berlin wall , which 20 years after the war separated and divided a city blocking the view from one place to another stumping and inhibiting growth and freedom. Mies design although not successful in its original purpose, stands today as it did when it was built as strong opposition to the restraints imposed on people by design put in place to try and force a sense of restrained identity.

Site Research

Within any design process research / mapping of the existing site is the starting point for all designers. Several factors have to be considered before creating new ideas, these include.

. Existing features

. Geometry of building, doors , windows.

. Scale and proportion

. Rhythm, repetitions

. Texture, exploring materials

. Light and shade

. Does it function well

. What will improve it

Queer Space: Follow the link to download exhibition poster (File size: 11MB)

In 1993, Storefront for Art & Architecture wrote a manifesto calling out to artists/designers for a response to the notion of Queer Space. The manifesto was as follows:

Wanted
Queer Space Manifestos/Proposals

Flaming through outer space? or cruising your inner child?
ACTing UP? going down, carrying on.

Hang around, come across, put out, jerk off, log on, boogie down, work through, fashion forward, lay back.

Safety. Danger. Uptown. Downtown. Ask. Tell.

Where are the traces of all our queer ancestors? Where did they arrive, shelter, display, disport, depart?

Melvin Dixon says: "I'll be somewhere, listening for my name."

Vows and disavowals. Trade, betrayal, tradition. Erasures - racisms - races, Laborors, Labours: Loafing, luxuries and loveliness. A homeless person's "right to privacy" - where does it live? Younger and older, effeminate/femme/feminine/masculine/butch. Commotions, emotions, movements.

Dignity/ pride/ exhibitionism/ shyness/ shame/ attitude/ public displays of affection

"all the rage"

when is a march a parade a demonstration?

The dictionary says "Queer from German quer (oblique, cross, adverse)"

What makes space queer? How to give queer space a history and a future, a powerful presence? What's the queerest in utopias, in diasporas, in environments, in intimacies, in bowling leagues, in health and illness, in solidarity, in urban pets, in nationalism and cosmopolitanism, in self-defense, in cyberspace, in jobs and no jobs, in film and video, in the Christian Right, in memory, in the hypothalmus, in the high schools, in dancing and walking, in civil society, and in interior decorating? The Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York is soliciting QUEER SPACE PROPOSALS and MANIFESTO/PROPOSALS.

EVE KOSOFSKY SEDGWICK
November 1, 1993

This was one response:

WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE LIVE

We placed an ad in the classified sections of gay paper in two mid-sized cities: Columbus, Ohio and Ottawa, Canada. In the ad we asked members of the gay and lesbian community to send two 3x5 snapshots of their homes, one exterior view and one interior view. We also asked them to indicate their age, their gender, if they live alone, with roommates or a lover, and whether they consider their neighborhood urban or suburban. The photos allow us to explore (and explode) stereotypes about the gay community, who we are and how we live. It also allows us to examine certain assumptions - like the myth that gay men are urban dwellers, while lesbians prefer suburbia.
BENJAMIN GIANNI AND MARK ROBBINS

Source: Storefront for Art and Architecture, 1994
http://www.storefrontnews.org/newsletter/archive/075_Newsletter.pdf
(Large download file: 11MB)

Click Here To Listen: More Fables About Dis/'place'ment and Identity

Click Here To Listen: This American Life on Americans In Paris

An American in Paris - This episode relates lived experiences and stories about Americans living and settling in Paris, a city historically known for its open attitude towards them. Yet these narratives also reveal some idiosyncracies in the notion of Paris as a romantic and dreamy place.

Mona Hatoum

Hatoum's video suggests exile and displacement. She has said it also challenges 'the stereotype of Arab women as passive, mother as non-sexual being'. (www.tate.org.uk)


Mona Hatoum: Measures of Distance, 1988

PCAD 500 Course Content: Place & Identity

Session Two continues with concepts of place and identity. A huge range of art/design practices are available for discussion here. In attaching your examples, summarise its specific relation to Place or Landscape within the context of identity/ies. Remember that texts can include quotation from artist, gallery, designer etc.


Do Ho Suh: Fallen Star, 2008

Mapping Radioactive Minerals

Radon is a natural radioactive gas. You cannot see, hear, feel or taste it. It comes from the minute amounts of uranium that occur naturally in all rocks and soils.Radon is present in all parts of the UK, although the gas disperses outdoors so levels are generally very low.
We all breathe it in throughout our lives - for most UK residents, radon accounts for half of their total annual radiation dosage. However, geological conditions in certain areas can lead to higher than average levels. Some of the highest radon levels have been found in the southwest, but levels well above average have been found in many other parts of the UK. Exposure to particularly high levels of radon may increase the risk of developing lung cancer.

Heartlands Project Cornwall

Of ecological and heritage interest, this a proposed theme park that celebrates the industrial archeology of Cornwall. Set within the ruins of industrial mining complex it charts the phenomena of the colonising of niche plant species that have emerged as a result of the conditions created by mining activity in the area.

Mapping Geology

The link will take you to the website of Cornish Mining World Heritage.

Random Geological Data South West

This is a granite batholith that connects Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor to Lands End and represents the map of granite outcrops across the South West Peninsula. It resulted in the development of tin, copper tungsten production in the area.

Mapping

Had been looking for a map drawn by Annette Messager, when found instead MoMA had made a map to represent the different elements of her practice.

Mapping

Astrological map based on French artist Annette Messager's date of birth, showing the positions of the planets.

Achievements and Save Files

With the most recent generation of consoles, Microsoft (and subsequentally Sony and some PC publishers) have introduced the Achievement system, wherein players are awarded with a congratulatory 'medal' for completing various tasks and actions within their games. Functionally and ludically useless (beyond creating additional objectives for those so inclined to chase them), the Achievements system does however produce interesting, yet rather abstract maps of a player's gaming experience (below).



While some Achievements document a player's advancement through a narrative (complete Level 1, complete Level 2,etc), others map their completion of certain unrelated objectives therein (climb the highest building, collect all the stars, publish a level online). Since not all of these will be completed by every player by just following the game's narrative, Achievement lists provide a very personal look at a player's game experience.

Save game files (especially quick-saving in PC games) produce a similar result. Each save producing a snapshot of your progress through a game in a very abstract, yet personal manner.



In the case of Fallout 3 (above), the save files themselves tell nothing about the narrative experience, except the location of the player at the time of saving. They do however, provide some other information (which is fairly abstract taken individually), which maps out the player's experiences with the game: how long they've spent playing, their experience point level and their assigned title based on their current reputation level. The actual narrative and incidental experiences which are occuring at that point in the game are lost to all, except (possibly) those who have shared that experience in their own game.

I think that it would be interesting to take each of these elements individually and view them sequentially (in order or otherwise), to see just how much of the gaming experience they actually do reflect when removed from their original context.

Experiential landscape

Kevin Thwaites and Ian Simkins 2007 Experiential landscape Routledge
This book explains the theories of experiential landscape. That is, describing areas, particularly urban areas in terms of the experiences had as one moves through them, and how these experiences interact, rather than in terms of physical landscape features - buildings, terrain etc. This is relevant for architects and planners, but is also relevant for artists, particularly sculptors. Although some sculptures are created to be site specific, many have no relevance to the area they are sited. Many are aimed to create an impression, to attract attention only to themselves and the surroundings are irrelevant. Some are created to be deliberately provocative in the area they are placed. Richard Serra’s ‘Tilted Arc’, created in 1981 was 3 sheets of corten steel measuring 12ft by 120ft and slightly tilted. It was placed in the middle of a public plaza, dominating and disrupting the space. Such was the public outcry, that after public hearings it was removed.

Charles Jencks:Garden of Cosmic Speculation

Throughout History great Gardens have been created to symbolize high ideals, to symbolize philosophical ideas and to depict perfect edens. Charles Jencks garden is a modern take on this theme, He is an intellectual with a history in architecture and design. His garden uses shapes and formulas from science and astronomy to create a ‘garden of the mind’. The video from the culture show by Andrew Graham Dixon gives a good idea of what it is about. It is a very ambitious idea, but I am not sure what I think about it. Is it just Disney for the intellectuals? As a gardener I think it must be a nightmare to maintain. As it is so artificial they must be continually battling with nature to keep it in a pristine condition. This is a problem of many very artificial land art works and one I find hard to justify.
www.bbc.co.uk/cultureshow/videos/2008/06/s5_e2_land/
www.hubreview.blogspot.com/2007/10/garden-of-sonic-recapitulation.html
www.offthefence.com/content/programme.php?EpID=125&ID=42&categories=7/

nancy holt sun tunnels

Nancy Holt. Sun Tunnels 1973-1976.

Sun Tunnels are four huge concrete pipes, 9 feet high and 18 feet long sited on land owned by the artist in Utah. They face each other in pairs , set at a distance around a concrete circle. The pairs of tunnels are aligned to the summer and winter solstice respectively. At these times the sun can be seen right through the relevant pair of tunnels. Holes are cut in the tunnels in the form of constellations, so the sun and also the moon, produce moving images of the constellations on the inside of the tunnels.
Nancy Holt says ‘ Day is transformed into night and an inversion of the sky takes place: stars are cast down to earth, spots of warmth in cool tunnels’. On a simple level she is mapping the stars in an unusual way, but the piece also frames the landscape and emphasises the scale of the earth and the cosmos, something other artists working at this time( James Turrell, Roden Crater, Charles Ross, Star Axis) also tried to do.

John Beardsley 1998(3rd ed) Earthworks and beyond Abbeville Press
Gilles A Tiberghien 1995 Land Art Art Data

Page 200 Land Art Gilles A Tibergien Page 35. Fig 27 Earthworks and Beyond John Beardsley

John Beardsley 1998(3rd ed) Earthworks and beyond Abbeville Press
Gilles A Tiberghien 1995 Land Art Art Data

Mapping Half Life 2

Valve Software's automatic player-tracking applications provide some fascinating maps. From their main stat-tracking page, you can access graphs monitoring various statistics for all of their currently-active games, each of which map out the combined experiences of the Valve gaming community.

Even more fascinating though, are the various Death Maps (like that in the picture above), showing the hotspots within every level, at which the players die most commonly. The bright red hotspot in the above image, for example, represents the point at which players would fail a long distance jump, if they hadn't correctly balanced a broken bridge into an appropriately-angled ramp. More examples can be seen by scrolling down to the bottom of the following pages: Half Life Episode 2 and Team Fortress 2.

Watch 'Powers of Ten' Here

This film is a stalwart of architecture schools everywhere. Notions of scale and spatial relativity bring a micro / macro view of our world.
© 2006 Lucia Eames dba Eames Office

We Tell Stories

Penguin Publishing's site, We Tell Stories, makes use of various digital media (blogging, flash games, etc) to tell a selection of short stories. The first story, Charles Cumming's The 21 Steps, makes use of digital maps to literally trace out the movements of the protagonist and is an interesting method of storytelling.

Click Here To Learn About Christian Nold's Bio-Mapping Project

Google Earth, GPS and biometric tracking is all you need...


Christian Nold: Greenwich Emotion Map, BioMapping.net 22.08.07
Suggested Reading: Coverley, M (2006) Psychogeography, Herts: Pocket Essentials

Day to Day Data

In his Web-based commission entitled 'On Earth As In Heaven' Jem Finer juxtaposes celestial data - constellations - and maps these with the commonplace and the everyday, making new associations and constellations from earthly terrestrial reference points.

Jem Finer: On Earth As In Heaven, Day to Day Data, 2005

Click Here to Listen: 'You Are Here' from This American Life Podcast

Jailbreak the 'Map'.... Another instalment of place 'stories' from This American Life.

Click Here to Listen: Hysterical Podcast from This American Life on Mapping

This Podcast investigates Mapping 'practice' primarily through the five senses. At times trivial and frivolous there is, however, enormous insight into the nature of the place that surrounds us and the space we embody in our everyday lives.

A map of phone, cable, and power lines. Image by Denis Wood. From Act One.

Fallout 3, The Mapping and Destruction of a Realtime City

I thought using Fallout 3 would be a great example of games designers, well actually level designers, taking an existing place and implementing it almost perfectly into an explorable and interactive world.
The game takes place in the year 2277 on the East Coast of what used to be the United States of America, mostly in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia.

They've taken the east coast of america and modeled it including familiar sights such as the Jefferson Memorial Building and the Museum of History, the whole of Arlington Library and Cemetery, but to these familiar sights they have wrought destruction and devastation, because Fallout 3 is based in the post apocalyptic future - the entire game area is littered by debris and collapsing buildings. But you can still see Washington and its street layout.

Jefferson Memorial

Jefferson Memorial Fallout 3
The game is also filled with propaganda and violence. I find this game amazingly detailed and makes you really appreciate what our world looks like, because scarily, this is probably what the east coast of america would eventually look like after an apocalyptic holocaust.

Session 1: Week 19, January 5, 2009

Experience of place through: memory, childhood and initial notions of sense of place, early understanding of scale, horizon and ideas of infinity, mapping experience

Introduction to Space, Place, Landscape

Hello and welcome to the Chartered Territories blog 'space'. Please feel free to contribute your ideas, images, and links. However, please do ensure they are appropriately labelled before posting.

Andrew Dodds: Boatbuilding with Tornado, 2004, DVD, Part of New Horizons: an ongoing series of digitally constructed videos featuring Enlightenment, English landscape paintings with American home-video footage of storms. www.andrewdodds.com