This is There: Maps as Machines for Establishing Locations

Workshop by Denis Wood
(Fellow of the Graduate School “Locating Media” Raleigh/Siegen) 

 

Monday and Wednesday, 24th and 26th of January 2011
10 to 16 h
Artur-Woll-Haus of the University Siegen, Room AE-B-105


Of everything, that is, that has a location, for the logic of the map is a propositional one constructed out of what can be called “postings,” fundamental cartographic propositions that this is there. Each of these postings encapsulates a powerful existence claim – this is – that gains enormous power, which arises from the fact that every instance of map use, whether it is onscreen or offscreen, constitutes an implicit act of validation. The workshop "This is There: Maps as Machines for Establishing Locations" wants to investigate how this validation – all but automatic – is structured by antecedent and historic validations. The mediated claim “this is there” is powerful precisely because it implies the performance of an action: that you can go there and check it out. Can it be doubted that this locative authority is the reason that the earliest and most consistent use of what became maps across cultures and throughout history? Is it the map the machine that establishes the locations, and absolutely nothing like a sketch drawn to communicate some sense of here in relation to there? This workshop tries to give some answers by reaching for an idea of the map as a poetics of place, and perhaps a poetics of place is not wholly beyond the map’s reach.
Following an introduction by Denis Wood, actual cartographical research problems will be discussed. Participants are requested to prepare a 20-minute presentation on the research project, and to identify specific questions of cartographic relevance. Following a group discussion on Monday, Denis Wood will be available for individual consultations the following Wednesday. This workshop in English is sponsored by the graduate school “locating media” in cooperation with the DFG-project “media geography.“

Personal information:

Denis Wood is one of the most read cartographers, debating ontological questions like no other: What makes a map a map? How work maps? What is the difference between mapping and mapmaking? From 1974 until 1996, Wood taught environmental psychology and design at the College of Design at North Carolina State University where he was Professor of Design and Landscape Architecture. During these years, he wrote extensively about film and maps. His highly influential book The Power of Maps, which was first published in 1992, now past its 10th printing. Since 1996, he is an independent scholar. His most recent publications include The Natures of Maps (University of Chicago 2008) and Rethinking the Power of Maps (Guildford 2010). We here at the University of Siegen are happy to announce that Wood is the visiting fellow of the graduate school “locating media” in January 2011. For more information, visit his website http://www.deniswood.net.

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