Reopening the inscription Rodrigo Arteaga: from the inscription to the phenomenon

Reopening the inscription Rodrigo Arteaga: from the inscription to the phenomenon

(Short paper)

Keywords: Maps; abstract inscription; phenomenon; Knowledge Network.

Maps are a key element in the practices of Rodrigo Arteaga and of Fitz Roy, despite the different backgrounds, and the interval of centuries. Fitz Roy is the commander of Beagle and Adventure who explored the Chilean landscape cut by the oceanographic topography, channels, rivers and capes from Patagonia to the Antarctic Continent in the nineteenth century. Rodrigo Arteaga is the young Chilean artist, in exhibition since 2009, whose work deals with expanded cartographies like hydrographic basin, astronomy and others. In Libros Abiertos a series from 2012, Arteaga juxtaposes pages taken from old volumes of anatomy, botany, astrology, maps of the watershed. The capillarity of rivers and tributaries are displayed next to scientific images of arterial anatomy and membrane fragments suggesting what, in a way, resembles calligraphies to be interpreted. We know that for the observed phenomena to be transcribed into a flat topography, various tools and much knowledge are needed. And yet the transcription should be intelligible in the Knowledge Network. This is exactly what Fitz Roy wanted from the phenomenon transformed into a readable abstract inscription. Rodrigo Arteaga predicts that the inscription is reversible and can be reopened into the observed phenomenon again.