Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures
Abstract
Maps are metaphors and tools to explore the way we see the world. They are also a way of interpretation, charged with visual empathy, an expression of cognitive and symbolic control of reality. The map is capable of producing positions that can specify the places represented at multiple levels and bring out new consciousnesses of identity belonging. The urban landscape, likened to a palimpsest, is the stratification par excellence of past, present, and future (Corboz, 1998). Something precious, written and rewritten, retaining signs and traces of the past; drawing layering and complexity. Maps are a method of representing infinite possible data including places, times, and people. That is why they have no real disciplinary framework: visual communication, computer science, art, geography, contribute cross-culturally to the representation of a map. Compared to other audio-visual tools, maps seek an identity relationship – individual or social – because they arise from the need to visualize a story, a relationship, an invisible concept. They are a symbolic sign, a purely artificial act that allows one to see reality from an unseen point of view. They are one of the most profound tools of reification at our disposal. Through various examples from antiquity to the present, the intent of this essay is to investigate the imaginative and functional characteristics and potential of maps as a spatial and temporal representation tool. Obviously, the characteristics of this tool vary according to changing society and its needs. In ancient times, maps were a tool to help visualize and explore the unknown world from a mostly spatial point of view. Today, the unknown we attempt to shed light on is mostly time-related, trying to predict the fluid and complex future as accurately as possible.
Irene De Natale was born in Genoa in 1996. She is a PhD Student at Design and Architecture Department – dAD – in University of Genoa. She is interested in research topics concerning the representation of the contemporary city through experimentations with visual codes and languages functional to the communication of complexity. She has been a member of the Interdepartmental Center on Visuality – ciVIS – since 2022 and UID – Unione Italiana Disegno – member since 2022. Her latest paper “De-sign inside the city” was released on “Figurazioni” Special Edition of GUD Magazine.
Ayla Schiappacasse was born in Genoa in 1995. She’s a PhD student at the Architecture and Design Department – University of Genoa – with a research on morphology and urban design of high-density residential complexes. Since 2020, she’s co-researcher in the Erasmus+ Programme “Climate Labs”. In 2022 her latest paper “Unfolding oblivion. Vacancy, diversity, porosity: an urban story” was released on Life Within Ruins by Save the Heritage Benefit Corporation. Now she’s working on two publications as co-editor with GUP press: “Pianta analoga di Genova” and “City, type, building”.
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Friday 2nd December, 2022