[Synapse elist] Mapping as part of architectural practice

[Ásta Olga]

Hello list

[Asta here, from Urbanistan laboratory - Reykjavik, 64º North, GMT -1]

Thank you all for the ongoing discussions which have been great and apologizes for jumping on board so late. The midnight sun has had some effects on computer work and concentration. 

I would like to take up the point about the relationship between map and territory but will start with some background drawn from our work in Urbanistan.

When we started our mapping projects (inspired by amongst others the Situationists) the aim was to discover and expose hidden values in our close environment. The motivation was the fast changing city and our wish to capture characteristics and subjective elements before too late. 
We embraced the changes and acknowledged the dynamic landscape of our cities, but at the same time we wanted to be in there, in the changes, notice the changes and remind other people of their role in it too. Also explore methods, how to share ideas, how to stimulate a creative dialogue and how to take part in the process.

Alternative mapping was one of those methods. There we could question both the presentation/visualisation of maps and what is being mapped. We tried different ways, such as to use predefined parameters ("where do you get inspiration in the city", "where do you feel energy in the city" and "where do you meet people in the city") as well as more open kind of mapping that can be found in our "everyday walks in Cape Town and New York" and the "Slipway Memory-bank".
(Emotional maps: http://www.urbanistan.org/borgartilraun1/main.swf, Other projects: http://www.urbanistan.org/projects.html)

Now, at present time we are working on taking these methods further, instead of being a "parasite" on the process why not "hijack" the city? We want to use the outcomes for more concrete products, as material for design and architecture. Could that lead to new approach in architecture and city planning? 
This is why the relationship between map and territory is so interesting and the relationship (or the dilemma?) between designed solutions and the unpredictable outcomes of subjective mapping. 

Esther Polak's farmer-tourist project is fascinating. The engagement of the farmer community is also very interesting and like Simoen pointed out I'm curious on what level they engage. 
As a complete outsider it is easy enough to imagine the patterns and start making some meaning about movements, paths, routes. 

Which brings me to my last point; Marnie's Mapping Project. It has resonance with a project that I recently started with a choreographer and a 5 Rhythm instructor Hannah Lowenthal. We are exploring the relationship between movements of the body and the pulse of the urban landscape. We are interested in the sensational experience when there is a cross over in the perception (i.e. kind of a synaesthesia triggered by poetic movements in the city landscape and by moving body part of oneself) but also we are questioning the variety of movements in our lives and surroundings and how depressing it will be if we only move our fingers on the keyboard and we only affect our moving environment by travelling between places by car. 

Best regards, Ásta
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.synapse.net.au/pipermail/elist/attachments/20080710/1bb3dfc0/attachment.html