{"id":13907,"date":"2019-01-25T06:58:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-25T14:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=13907"},"modified":"2019-01-25T06:58:08","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T14:58:08","slug":"birdseye-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heuermontage.com\/?p=13907","title":{"rendered":"Birdseye View"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week was mostly devoted to how to find things that are lost or stolen: archeological treasures, land, art. The academic discussion around textual archeology, learning from past texts, literary or otherwise, eventually had me think about maps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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48×71 $4,800<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Maps, you know, those paper things that half of us can read and half of us cannot, that pointed the way to our destinations before the arrival of talking machines that tell you how to proceed – and then reroute. Maps, now seriously, that were supposed to adhere to \u201cthe empiricist paradigm of cartography\u201d\u2014that \u201ccartography\u2019s only ethic was to be accurate, precise, and complete.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/PJM%20Persuasive%20Cartography%20Portolan%20%23100%20Winter%202017.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since the 1970s, this view has been strongly challenged, and there are many enlightening efforts to reveal what maps are often really all about – persuasion to accept a particular view of the world, and not just geographically. For example, in 1992 the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in NYC put on a show about “all maps –whether rare or familiar, new or old, Western or non-Western — are more than simply guides to help you find your way. Like advertisements and other forms of graphic design,maps express particular viewpoints in support of specific interests. Depending on their function and purpose, all maps present information selectively, shaping our view of the world and our place in it.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the best collections of these type of maps can be found at Cornell, see the link attached above. A great discussion of what is on offer – and what is at stake – can be found here:https:\/\/persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/PJM%20Persuasive%20Cartography%20Portolan%20%23100%20Winter%202017.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The author argues that persuasive cartography is as old as mapping itself. Its scope ranges from religion, imperial geopolitics (think colonialism), slavery, British international politics, social and protest movements to, of course war. It was made explicit in the 1920s (and later taken on in force by the Nazis) when in reaction to the shameful defeat in WW I German cartographers decided to go for the “Suggestive Map,” cartographic propaganda which they thought had given the British a strategic advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The goal of suggestive mapping was to achieve political objectives (while avoiding lies, which could be easily exposed) by appealing to emotions and rigorously excluding anything that didn\u2019t support the desired message. Its maps were intended specifically to engage support from the general population, and they were often \u201cshamelessly explicit. The movement produced \u201cstriking\u201d results: by the early 1930s \u201cthere was a \u2018virtual flood\u2019 of suggestive maps in Germany; entire atlases were devoted to them, and they appeared in \u201cevery public lecture, every newspaper, and in countless books.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the 1970s Brian Harley and many other progressive historians pointed to the fact that persuasive cartography was not restricted to a particular nation or political movement. \u201cSocial purposes between the lines\u201d were typically the goals of the authoritarian elite, who used maps to legitimate their power and manipulate the weak.” <\/em> If you look closely at the maps I am posting today instead of photographs, you’ll get the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great overview of myths, lies and blunders on maps can also be found here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/hyperallergic.com\/348907\/the-phantom-atlas\/….<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

and that is before we even get to maps of fantasy worlds…..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Music today is about a traveling man who could not have been saved by the best maps in the world: The flying Dutchman<\/em>. If you are not up to listening to 3 hours of Wagner, there is a hilarious 3 minute version ….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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