This year, the Istanbul Design Biennial has chosen the theme The Future is Not What it Used To Be. When they opened the call for participation back in January, they asked for manifestos of any form — words, videos, artworks, anything that spoke to this theme. So theMapmaker Manifesto was born. This manifesto demands that we look at the data around us in an honest and critical way. With this information, we may choose a direction towards our future and find a healthy, sustainable way to get there.
It all starts with determining a collective you are here — but what is that? Is it cohesive? Disjointed? Funny? Sad? The works we have selected, put together, begin to paint a picture of the very tip of this iceberg. The content ranges from meditative walks to informal bus systems, with media from paper and paint to vectors and video. It’s messy. It’s overwhelming. And it’s absolutely beautiful.
Without further ado, Stamen is pleased to announce the artists and works we’ve selected for the Mapmaker Manifesto curation.
Aaron Reiss // New York’s Shadow Transportation System
Alan McConchie // OpenStreetMap: Every Line Ever
Becky Cooper // Mapping Manhattan & Mapping Istanbul
Benedikt Groß & Bertrand Clerc // Metrography
Bert Spaan // All 9,866,539 buildings in the Netherlands
Casey Cripe // San Francisco v.1.3
Ekene Ijeoma & Hyperakt // The Refugee Project
Jake Richardson // myPDX
Jay White // Vancouver
Joseph Lee & Benedikt Groß // The Big Atlas of LA Pools
Julia Griehl, Patrick Stotz & Achim Tack // The Limited Accessibility of Public Transport
Lize Mogel, Alexis Bhagat, Natasha Jen // Sharjah CityMap
Martin Pulicar // The (In)Visible Night Sky
Natalie Jeremijenko // Phenology Clock
Ross Kelly // Quasi Political Map
Sarah Williams and Wenfei Xu of the Civic Data Design Lab at MIT // Digital Matatus
Sarah Nordean // Walking Loops
Wendy Brawer & Isabelle Duvivier of Green Map System // Green Maps from Around the World
Once we’re done with all of the details necessary to put together the physical space full of the works above, we’ll be working on a digital space as well. Look for more information about this online portion of the curation, coming soon!
In the meantime, many thanks to these artists for working quickly within a very short turnaround. We are delighted to work with all of you and look forward to showing your maps in Istanbul from Nov. 1 — Dec. 14. Many thanks also to all the artists and designers who sent in their maps. It has been a joy to go through all of them, and a challenge to choose the above list.
Onwards to Istanbul!
Learn more about the 2014 Istanbul Design Biennial!
Image credits, from left to right: Alan McConchie & OpenStreetMap contributors, Aaron Reiss, Natalie Jeremijenko, Sarah Nordean (photo: Minttumaari Mäntynen), Jay White, Benedikt Groß & Bertrand Clerc, Ekene Ijeoma & Hyperakt