Experimental Geography exhibition

Our friend Lize Mogel sent us the information about the exhibition Experimental Geography, an exhibition that explores the differences between geographical study and artistic
experience of the earth, and we found that is a really interesting approach Organized by iCI (Independent Curators International and will be open from Oct. 9, 2009 to Jan. 31, 2010.

The exhibition is focused on maps as visual tools for sharing information with others. Maps can be produced by many people and combined together to tell stories about complex relationships… maps are never finished and only tell part os a story that can constantly be expanded upon.

“What could be more delightful—and unsettling—than turning loose a group of contemporary surrealists, disguised as vagabonds and artists, in the ripe fields of the hyper-real? Experimental Geography isn’t about space; it is about terminal strangeness.”

—Mike Davis, author of Ecology of Fear and City of Quartz

Mappa Mundi, Lize Mogel, 2008
We can read at the exhibition site that they talk about this work with these words:

“Geography benefits from the study of specific histories, sites, and memories. Every estuary, landfill, and cul-de-sac has a story to tell. The task of the geographer is to alert us to what is directly in front of us, while the task of the experimental geographer—an amalgam of scientist, artist, and explorer—is to do so in a manner that deploys aesthetics, ambiguity, poetry, and a dash of empiricism. Experimental Geography explores the distinctions between geographical study and artistic experience of the earth, as well as the juncture where the two realms collide, and possibly make a new field altogether.

The manifestations of “experimental geography” (a term coined by geographer Trevor Paglen in 2002) run the gamut of contemporary art practice today: sewn cloth cities that spill out of suitcases, bus tours through water treatment centers, performers climbing up the sides of buildings, and sound works capturing the buzz of electric waves on the power grid. In the hands of contemporary artists, the study of humanity’s engagement with the earth’s surface becomes a riddle best solved in experimental fashion. The exhibition presents a panoptic view of this new practice, through a wide range of mediums including sound and video installations, photography, sculpture, and experimental cartography.”

Works featured in the exhibition range from sewn cloth cities that spill out of suitcases, bus tours through water treatment centers, performers climbing buildings and sound-art created from running through Boston’s evacuation route. Exhibiting artists include Francis Alÿs, The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), kanarinka (Catherine D’Ignazio), Julia Meltzer and David Thorne, Lize Mogel, Trevor Paglen, Raqs Media Collective, Deborah Stratman, Daniel Tucker, Alex Villar, Yin Xiuzhen and more.

More info here.

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