spatialized

How we represent, perceive, and subsequently navigate space has been a preoccupation of mine for some time. The spatial ability to translate a topographic two-dimensional map, or satellite photograph, into its frontal and three-dimensional analogue, is certainly a skill. Everyone knows someone with a good sense of direction, and those who get lost in the supermarket. The mental translation from the two to three dimensional, from the abstract space of the map, to the actual space of the environment, is something we all do without even thinking. But when we stop for a moment and think about the perceptual shift that this requires, and the influence that technology has had on how we perceive space things get more interesting.

Maps and satellite photos are representational vantage-points we could never experience without some sort of technological mediation; a plane, Google Earth, cartography, etc. The out of body experience of hurtling through space in a winged tin can, reading a topographic map, or spinning the globe with a click of your mouse, allow us spatial experiences we could never have with our two legs alone. While these tools are fascinating, they are also odd, as we are effectively depending on a series of abstractions in order to understand our places. These often rigidly mathematical and technological abstractions guide our actual tactile experiences, and taken together allow us to understand and place ourselves within the world. Alone, the map and other topographical representations become discrete spaces in themselves, inherently connected to their sources, yet no longer dependent upon them. They are as beautiful as they are functional, both in how they scientifically represent information, and the formal language that is employed to communicate it.

The place of transition between these different forms of spatial representation is at once purely scientific and immensely poetic. It deals primarily with how we understand our scale in relation to the land, how we form connections to places, and how we use visual images and abstractions to navigate and represent the world. The three images contained in this post are of roughly the same place in Canyonlands National Park; one a topo-map, the other captured from Google Earth, and the last a photograph from my own trip to the park. Clicking on them will give you a larger version. Type in the following coordinates into Google Earth for a closer look: 38°06′26.91″ N, 109°51′08.47″ W. The way the vertical rock formations appear as you move closer is great.