Session #111

– Round Table / Discussion –

Maria Mitsoula
The University of Edinburgh

Chris French
The University of Edinburgh

Paula Szturc
The University of Edinburgh

Sophia Banou
The University of the West of England

This panel defines ‘care’ as a condition of extreme awareness, one that looks for alternative or suppressed realities, which have remained concealed by established systems and conventional forms of representation. Caring as a practice has the potential to reveal, bring to the surface, complex entanglements of different temporalities, tangible and intangible manifestations, subjective and objective realities, human and non-human entities. Mapping, in its performative and discursive character, is an invaluable tool for drawing attention to such hidden situations and complex relationships.

In this context, we seek to establish a productive dialogue between different mapping practices and the conditions that emerge from them. Mapping is here understood not merely as a representation technique but as a productive tool that stimulates reflection and speculation, in anticipation of new readings and imaginings of the world. Through alternative and explorative practices of mapping, the aim is to unsettle assumed narratives and spatial expressions that have dominated the representation of the environment, from the territory to the city to its architecture.

The panel will bring together researchers, designers, and artists who will be asked to reflect on a map from their own work and a short critical position on the process, methods, and outputs in a 10 minutes presentation (2-5 drawings).

These drawings will be brought into dialogue, initially concentrating but hopefully expanding beyond the following themes:

1. Scale: The territory, the city, architecture [or any inter-scalar relationships]

2. Media: The techniques and technologies of representation.

3. Dissemination: The context and/or intent of the mapping [research, teaching, practice]

4. Theoretical underpinnings: The disciplines informing the act of mapping

5. Conventions: Blurring the boundaries between mapping and other forms of spatial representation.

6. Politics: from the top-down view to embodied and embedded representations

We are looking for cartographies that extend beyond the conventional practice to generate authentic debates on political and social tensions, ecological relationships, post-colonial perspectives, and biopolitical issues, among other topics. Please submit your title, 2-5 drawings/images, abstract of 200 words, and a short Bio of 100 words.