LONDON.- Mapping it Out: An Alternative Atlas of Contemporary Cartographies brings together the sharpest and most creative minds to rethink what maps can be and do for us in the twenty-first century. The results are inventive, visionary and unexpected. More than 130 leading figures from different fields – artists, architects, writers and designers, geographers, mathematicians, computer pioneers, scientists – make sense of exterior and interior worlds through highly personal and imaginative maps and charts.
Hans Ulrich Obrist has brought together a remarkable range of contributors including Damien Hirst, Mona Hatoum, John Baldessari, Matthew Barney, Yoko Ono, Olafur Eliasson, Anish Kapoor, Annette Messager, Susan Hiller, Ed Ruscha, David Adjaye, Christopher Stringer, J. Craig Venter, Tim Berners-Lee, John Maeda, Bruce Sterling, George F. Smoot, Dimitar Sasselov, Gino Segrè and Albert László Barabási.
Mapping it Out contains myriad approaches, from plans and plots, blueprints and drawings, instructions and lists to mind maps, concept maps and fantasy maps. Some have translated scientific data into simplified visual language, while others have condensed vast social, political or natural forms into concise diagrams. Many have reworked existing maps to subvert their original purpose or to present an alternative view of reality. Others play with the map’s commitment to truth by plotting invented worlds and charting imaginative flights of fancy. Going further, some offer entirely new kinds of map – or even reject the map’s claim to bear facts altogether.
In his introduction, acclaimed novelist Tom McCarthy reflects on the relationship between maps, literature and knowledge, while Hans Ulrich Obrist closes the book by considering the territory of maps from the perspective of the arts and philosophy.
Mapping it Out was inspired by the Serpentine Gallery’s Map Marathon in 2010 and a long collaboration with John Brockman and the EDGE Foundation. The highly creative and original design by Jonathan Barnbrook adds to this visually and intellectually exciting book.
Hans Ulrich Obrist is Co-Director of Exhibitions and Programmes and Director of International Projects at the Serpentine Gallery, London. Tom McCarthy is an English novelist, writer and artist.
