Here is the timetable for this semesters Mapping Elective:Assignment 1
Taking Harriet Russell’s envelope as an example – I would like you to post a letter to yourself /or a friend that utilizes a map/diagram rather than an address which locates the building of your choice (with as much visual detail as possible).
I would like you to post this letter before the session on Friday 28th October– bringing a photocopy of the letter (before posting) with you to the session where we will compare maps.
Please post it to somewhere that is accessible to you (ie Not Australia).
Assignment 2
We will undertake assignment 2 within the session on 28th October.
You will need a number of items for that session. It is important that you have these with you:
- A 1metre x 1metre sheet of paper or material (ie Newspaper / wrapping paper - which you may have to piece together to make it the correct size)
- scissors
- masking tape /sellotape
- a game (ie connect 4/ buckaroo / snap – something that can be played reasonably quickly) - It is important that you have a game for the session
Assignment 3
Assignment 4
Assignment 3
Dérive/ Psychogeography / Mapping |
· dérive: literally “drift” or “drifting.” “The dérive (with its flow of acts, its gestures, its strolls, its encounters) was to the totality exactly what psychoanalysis (in the best sense) is to language. Let yourself go with the flow of words, says the psychoanalyst. He listens, until the moment when he rejects or modifies (one could say detourns) a word, an expression or a definition. The dérive is certainly a technique, almost a therapeutic one. But just as analysis unaccompanied with anything else is almost always contraindicated, so continual dériving is dangerous to the extent that the individual, having gone too far (not without bases, but...) without defenses, is threatened with explosion, dissolution, dissociation, disintegration. And thence the relapse into what is termed ‘ordinary life,’ that is to say, in reality, into ‘petrified life.’ (Ivan Chtcheglov, excerpt from a 1963 letter to Michèle Bernstein and Guy Debord, reprinted in Internationale Situationniste #9, p. 38). “Théorie de la dérive” was published in Internationale Situationniste #2 (Paris, December 1958). A slightly different version was first published in the Belgian surrealist journal Les Lèvres Nues #9 (November 1956) along with accounts of two dérives. · Psychogeography The word psychogeography is in use with two groups of researchers: artists and psychologists. Freud writes about it in 1901 in "The Psychopathology of Everyday Life". The concept was used by the avant-garde art movements of French lettrists and situationists. It was launched in 1954 in the first issue of 'Potlatch', the French review of the international lettrists, the movement preceding the situationists, in the name of a game: "Le jeu psychogÈographique de la semaine" The psychogeographic game of the week. Defined in a Situationist review "Internationale situationniste": "The search for the exact laws and effects connected with the influence of geographical surroundings, whether or not arranged consciously, on the instinctive behaviour of individuals". In a sense we can understand the idea of phsychogeography as defining a place or space through its buildings, textures, histories, how we understand it and how other people perceive it. The idea of the derive/psychogeography has recently been explored by the writer and cultural commentator Will Self in reference to his walk from London to New York. Please see the mapping elective blog for a link to this book (a large section can be read online) Christan Nold looks at the relationship of mapping to psychogeography, in his ‘Stockport emotion map’ he looked, not just at the physical structure of the town but also at the feelings, reactions, memories and stories of its inhabitants and visitors to construct an alternative map of the area.  Christian Nold, Stockport Emotion Map 2007 The idea -The Dérive, Psychogeography and mapping go hand in hand. A thirst for knowledge, understanding and discovery (as well as power) drove explorers to chart the unknown or to re-map what was previously acknowledged to the define a space. Your task - In groups, you must ‘map’ the undefined area of your map. I would like you to explore this in a number of ways: · looking at the physicality of the area (possibly through notes/drawing/ rubbings/ photographs/) · Research into the history of the area/surrounding area – how do you document this? · Map your thoughts · Record other peoples thoughts / observations · Record Sounds · Note your journey to the specified area Next week, I want you to present your findings to the group (Friday 11th November). This can take any format that you wish. I want you to create an ‘alternative’ map of the area. Books to reference: The Society of the Spectacle (La Société du spectacle), Guy Debord.1967. This book covers a lot of subjects including commodity, the development of human society and our relationship to the world through mass media and how social life has been replaced by representation. The Situationists City, Simon Sadler. This book discusses the the work and theories of the situationists and their relationship with the city. Psychogeography, Will Self. An exploration of ideas relating to the Situationists, told through his walk from London to New York along with other short texts. |
Assignment 4
- Next week – ‘Mapping the inconsequential’…. I want you to:
1. Before the next session (on 18th Nov) I would like you to map something of relative insignificance that is 3 dimensional (e.g. the underneath of a chair, a coffee cup, your shoe). I want you to do this as accurately as you can on a 1:1 scale. Think about the issues of mapping something of 3-dimensions onto a 2D format (as in the Dymaxion map)
You can use drawing, photography or any other method you consider suitable.
2. For the next session on the 18th November please bring along some pens/pencils and tracing paper (2x A1 sheets). You will need this to complete the session.
Assignment 5
Assignment 7
***Please read James Corners 'Agency of Mapping'***
Mapping the inconsequential  Matthew Picton, ‘Cut out drawing, Alley way No2’ |
Maps are a form that sets out to describe and help us understand an environment / object / space etc. Often, maps set out to describe a subject that is physically larger than the material that it sits on. (e.g. A particular map scale might be 1:50000. In this case it means that 1cm on the map represents 50000cm of the territory). It is arguable that the perception of scale is difficult to comprehend if you have no physical experience of the described space. You have been asked to ‘map’ an object in 1:1 scale for the last project. I would like to continue and expand on this by getting a sense of space through descriptions and observations in ‘real scale’. In relation to Georges Perec’s writing within ‘Species of Spaces and Other Pieces’ and to Mathew Pictons ‘Cut out drawing, Alley way No2’ I would like you to record elements of a space within/outside the building, by mapping what you may normally classify as the inconsequential. Picton traces cracks in the surface of pavements that show the passing of time, the relationship of the microscopic to the topographical and bring us into a direct relationship to the real scale of our surroundings. Perec is a writer who descriptively explores our surroundings using observation / imagination / categorization. His writings relate to ideas of psycho-geography and help us to discover and understand that which is often overlooked – but essentially describes and supports our existence. Task1 : I would like you to both visually map/record your surroundings, through tracing elements that bring us into direct contact with our environment, as well as making a list of everything that is located within that space – from the large to the minute – looking at the functional / estimated distances / colours / textures / the permanent / the transient. Please work in pairs. Task 2 : Before the next session, I would like you to write an extensive list that maps your environment through text. Again, taking Perec as an example I would like you to choose a space. This may be a personal space (your bedroom, living room, studio space etc.) or it may be a more public space (a bus, a café, pub, street) You must write whilst in the space, listing and describing as much as you can. Afterwards (or whilst in the process) I would like you to categorize your observations. The categories are up to you, but may include for example.. Functional objects / discarded / personal / gifts / permanent etc.. Please type up these lists for the next session – 25th Nov. |
Assignment 6
Personal Mapping  | |
Personal Mapping Our bodies exist within space, within the map, in relation to objects, in relation to each other. We get a sense of space through our relation to boundaries (walls, doors, floors, windows etc.) and also through our understanding of scale (our scale in relation to other objects and distance) It is arguable that we use our space in a conventional way – not exploring or questioning the boundaries of walkways/ stairs / the rectangle. What happens when we walk down an alley-way we have never explored? Or arrive in a city that we have never been to and just start to walk? I want you to rediscover space and map/record yourself within it in 2 ways: - Through photography - By leaving a record of yourself (cut out stencil / line drawing) Think about how your body can interact / dissect / explore / define / the space. Think about how your body can change shape – stretching/ crouching / lying / arching / distorting You can use Paper / Charcoal / the projector / light / shadows – to create your piece. Anthony Gormley Susan Stockwell Lucy Gunning Kara Walker (Cut out forms) Bruce McLean (Plinth work) | |
Assignment 7
***Please read James Corners 'Agency of Mapping'***
Click here to be directed to an online PDF of the text.
