In The Map As Art: Contemporary Artists Explore Cartography, journalist Katherine Harmon displays a variety of cartography maps by artists. Typically, maps have a utilitarian function for navigation of an unknown location and can offer a variety of information about the physical attributes of the area. However with the advancements of technology, specifically, the GPS within our cars and phones, the use of maps is slowly coming to an end. While printed maps may not be used as often now, journalist Harmon asserts that the art world has picked up on the concept of maps as art forms. Many maps are now viewed as art, and would not help with navigation. Instead, they offer insights into artists’ personal visions of the world.
Before GPS was available on our phones and in our cars, physical maps were vital to finding our intended destination. Today, drivers unknowingly ignore their surroundings when driving as they avoid accidents and traffic by listening to their GPS.
When driving a long distance to unfamiliar destinations, for example from home to school, I usually listen to the Waze apps’ directions. I began to trust Waze and other navigational apps, and have lost confidence in my ability to find my own way. Prior to having GPS, how did people use physical maps while driving? Wouldn’t people have gotten into accidents as they looked at paper maps while driving?
While traditional physical maps might have been framed years ago and used as decoration, they were unaltered and remained true to their original purpose. Even on frames on the wall, they were clearly maps. My parents had maps of hidden horse trails in Bedford, New York. They would use the maps when horseback riding. However, when they gained knowledge of the surroundings and began to use their phones to find their way, they stopped using the maps. The map’s purpose is now a visually appealing decoration and commemoration of happy memories.
Today, contemporary artists have taken advantage of maps’ aesthetic qualities, and have left their directional purposes behind. Contemporary artists utilize maps as a commemoration of the past and representations of ideas. In Melissa Gould’s (a.k.a. Mego) Floor Plan (1991) shows the exterior borders of a destroyed synagogue, the Reformgemeinde, in East Berlin. The borders are illuminated as it represents the fires of Kristallnacht. This was the most interesting conceptual piece, as the map utilizes negative and empty space. Its negative space represents the death of the synagogue as well as the death of the Jews in the Holocaust. The acknowledgment of Judaism has been lost within humanity during the Holocaust. The piece is shown to be dark and eerie in contrast to the edges that are lit by bright lights. It is questionable whether this map actually is a map. The abstract map does not fall under the expectation of an ordinary map. However, today’s physical representations commemorate events and concepts, much like my parents’ framed map. The illuminating lines and figures within the artwork represent what the building once was. This map as artwork commemorates the establishment and purpose of the synagogue.