Call for Map Collages- Issue 5 of la colle, the collage zine!

“A map is a dream, an idea, an action, an emblem of human endeavor. It instigates adventures... Careful perceptions of our surroundings have always been matters of life and death.” -From Vincent Virga's Cartographia
Virga has also said, “The science of mapmaking is still alive, but we’ve lost the art.”

This is a call to put the art back into maps!
Maps are fascinating and powerful.

A map is an abstract conception of a place. The person who made had to make choices about what to include as well as what to leave out. Each map is thus a reflection of its maker. While maps are made by people working for corporations these are tons of individuals making maps right now that are staggering, mind-blowing, poetic, helpful, revealing, beautiful, not interested in aesthetics, life-changing and more.

In my new-found love and fascination and excitement about maps, the next (the 5th!) issue of la colle, the collage zine, will be devoted to maps.

Below are some artists, maps, exhibits, projects and websites that I have come across recently and they may help challenge your notion of a map.

When preparing your submission keep in mind that the zine is photocopied in black and white on legal paper. While there is room for one center-fold (or I guess two if you think about the cover) 8 ½ x 14 other collages will be reproduced on 8 ½ x 7 spaces.

This issue will come out sometime this spring, so submit you map collages by March 31, 2008. You can send you map collage (a hi-res, 300 dpi image) to my yahoo address juliejeanus or if you prefer to mail it, e-mail me and I’ll send you my mailing address. Also feel free to pass along any map-related songs, books, exhibitions, websites or exhibition reviews you’ve written along. If you submit a collage you will receive a free issue of la colle in exchange.

Here are some ways other people have approached maps lately (some collage and some not) to inspire you:

Get Lost! Artists Map New York City- Francis Alys, Marcel Dzama, Thurston Moore and so many more!!!!
http://www.newmuseum.org/assets/general/getlost/index.html

'Cartographia' Showcases Maps as History, Art
Vincent Virga's Cartographia- where the quote above came from.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17173936&ps=bb2
and an interview with Vincent Virga http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/around-town/24170/i-am-legend

An Atlas of Radical Cartography
http://www.an-atlas.com/

Lia Perjovschi’s Globe Collection and Mind Maps
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMkcZQEkIQ4 and
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/learntoread/artistinfo.shtm

elin o’hara slavic- Protesting Cartography or Places the United States has Bombed
http://www.unc.edu/~eoslavic/projects/bombsites/index.html

Saul Steinberg’s View of the World from 9th Avenue
http://www.saulsteinbergfoundation.org/gallery_24_viewofworld.html

3CS: Counter-Cartographies Collective
http://www.countercartographies.org/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

subROSA- Can you see us now?
http://canuseeusnow.refugia.net/

Creative Mapping- A blog dedicated to the creative use of maps in art!
http://creativemapping.blogspot.com/

Festival of Maps- A whole festival of maps in Chicago! Started in November and continues into 2008
http://www.festivalofmaps.org/index.aspx

Fallen Fruit- Maps can feed you!
http://www.fallenfruit.org/maps.html

This American Life of course has also been interested in maps:
Episode 110- Mapping- the episode where I learned about Dennis Wood’s book, The Power of Maps.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=110
You can see images of Dennis Wood’s maps of pumpkins! Manholes! And street lights! http://www.flickr.com/photos/thisamericanlife/sets/72157602618985796/

Also, Episode 136 You are Here
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=136

Guillermo Kuitca (go in a few pages of his work to find his maps)
http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/artists/record.html?record=6

Map This!- Exhibition at the Chicago Architecture Foundation January 10– March 21, 2008
http://www.architecture.org/exhibitions.html#buck

I am America. (And So?)
By Wyatt Mason, December 2, 2007, NY Times Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/magazine/02wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&ex=1197262800&en=9e9b87bdcecb1a62&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

Mapping the Self- November 3, 2007 - March 2, 2008, MCA Chicago
http://www.mcachicago.org/exhibitions/exh_detail.php?id=166

Making Maps- deals with questions like What is a Map? And Why are you making a map?
http://makingmaps.owu.edu/

And best of all, the fabulous map you are going to make.