on speculative cartography, russian sci-fi and the Super Revisionist Entertainment System (SRES).
So are there the things that still need mapping? There’s that repeated joke from Arrested Development… “They might have missed something,” but it seems unlikely. All that’s left is to sit and bask in the pre-drawn maps we’ve had forever.
But we’ve got paintings that poke fun at established modes and books that poke fun at established ideas (my book, my book, buy it), why not satirical maps? Why does speculative cartography not happen?
Of course, I’m sure it does, and to all the other artists out there that proudly create their own fictional worlds for artistic expression I say to you, fuckin A. We need to mess with stuff a little bit more, make a reclamation of general mindspace, like this guy with Russian cityscapes, or this guy with classic videogames.
And why not throw my own hat in there, and give you the finished map of the Blank State core. The map is based on a photocopied, traced, and tape-n-paper-augmented map of the Toronto core, then photocopied again and drawn on with charcoal, then photocopied again and drawn on with india ink. It looks hand drawn because, in the fiction and in the upcoming webcomic it will revealed that it is hand drawn, by an Artist. It denotes the territories of the various artists that exist in the series, and even shows where the houses of the ALL-SEEING EYE and the UNENDING NOW are, two publications that will rile the artists into two sides and kickstart the war. The map also augments the cityscape with the most notable highrises described in the book, but apart from these, assume there are condos everywhere.
I plan to make it interactive with the relaunch of condopocalypsenow.com… but for now, just zoom around and picture where you’ll be when it all goes to hell.
Click it to enlarge:
All for now. You guys are the best. Printers on monday. Launch info by wednesday.
dp