Sort of Topography

Navigating a big city with a map means encountering vast amounts of information. You can get lost, physically or while trying to choose between dozens of similar options. An inaccurate location, outdated opening hours, roadworks, impassable puddles and traffic jams: countless factors make you adjust your route over and over again.

What if there is no perfect route? And where am I on the map?

Perhaps I could make my own map? A simple one, with clear rules, as analogue as possible. So that I could be sure of finding myself rather than getting lost.

We invited visitors to make a map with us: to measure distances with a giant wooden compass and record them on special panels, printing stamps they had made after their walks, taking the scale into account. Permanent art objects, striking symbols from our neighbours’ camps, toilets, cafés and other landmarks became place names.

The map filled up over the course of the festival. In the evenings, we placed the panels beside trees and lit them with a campfire. It felt primal and warm. Participants also recorded their routes in the map legend, describing the length of their journeys and how they felt about the route and the place they had chosen and measured the distance to. Around 40 people took walks and left their mark on the shared map.