Tuesday, 14 October 2014

M&J #4 Lecture + Reading

Cultural Geography and Mapping
by Yuwei Lin

From all it was said (open street map, geocathing, ‘mapping the subject’) what have interested the most was the well pointed fact that maps are not only geographic statements.
More than that, maps are art work that can be use to tell stories and may also be satirical. Moreover, not only they are a representation of the place but also can be an interpretation of the mind and memory.

         alternative mapping = alternative realities


Reading
·      London: The Biography, 2000; Peter Ackroyd
Chaper 6 – Silence is golden

In Silence is golden, Ackroyd discuss silence within certain places in London. Through this chapter the author uses texts from three foreigners visitors, who in the nineteenth century have noted the presence of silence:  American connoisseur of antiquity, Washington Irving; American writer, Nathaniel Hawthornes; French traveller, Gabriel Mourey. Moreover, he also quotes Dickens and Lydegate
Throughout his text, Ackroyd analyses the ambiguous presence that silence takes in London. His considerations focus on the contrasting feelings and moods that quiet places might arouse in the city and the citizens.

“It is not a natural silence but a ‘play’, one must endure. It is in that sense wholly ambiguous; it may provoke peaceful contemplation, or it may arouse anxiety.


·      Janet Cardiff: the walk book, 2005; Mirjam Schaub

No comments:

Post a Comment