Demapping Location
Symposium:
- ISEA2011: 17th International Symposium on Electronic Art
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More presentations from ISEA2011:
Session Title:
- Locative Media and Social Data
Presentation Title:
- Demapping Location
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Locative arts could be better described as relational arts, as very few artworks created using GPS or other location data address location as such, but rather movement, relationships between participants, relation to place and its multiple histories. As such, locative arts conceptually demap location as a Cartesian dot on a geographical scale and suggest that sites are experienced as they are performed, visited, and played at.
Paradoxically, locative used to mean stationary, not in movement in military discourse. In several languages the locative case indicates “a place where”. And indeed, locative arts share that preposition, bringing participants to places where they play, discover, learn, and communicate. In other words, to experience locative arts, you have to be on the move, and not locative.
In my talk, based on three years of research I will discuss locative art projects by Blast Theory, Christian Nold and Esther Polak as practices of demapping location and offering ways to perform sensory and social relations.
