Neogeographical Reconnaissance
Neogeography is an umbrella term to tidy up the offshoots of Situationist psychogeography, GPS enabled geo-caching, radical cartography, audio tours and other exploratory pursuits meandering on the outskirts of professional geography.
Perhaps the title Fortean Geography applies, as these vernacular mapquests "don't conform to the protocols of proffessional practice" ( placekraft). Dragons and sea serpents on the maps of yore, the mysterious Terra Australis or incognita generally, there is a rich history of curious confluences of fact and fiction. Not precluding the potential of hollow earth and flat earth theories as neo-geographical in that they speculate on alternate schemes for trotting the globe.
In 1939, composer John Cage presented his score for the first in a series of Imaginary Landscapes. Sonic excursions involving variable speed turntables, radios, and noise. a neogeographical reconnaissance mission, seeking signals in noise. Chance operations involving volume settings, "left many people in the audience displeased...due to the fact that the work was fairly quiet," notes lecturer Guy de Bièvre. Intentional inderminacy produces uncertain results. Silence is a sound, noise is the poetry of machines.
The recent documentary Manufactured Landscapes by Jennifer Baichwai - about the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky abounds with an industrial-strength dose of "intentional landscapes." Not that the acres of factory workers in China assembling electronics, mountains of e-waste waiting for recycling, and upheaval of towns in the wake of a massive dam were part of an elaborate blueprint exactly. But more like inderminate new vistas unearthed under the auspices of intention, i.e. rampant industrialization. Silent sublime, Burtynsky's images speak loud and clear
Navigating the manufactured landscapes of China's industrial revolution with the coordinates of imagined audio worlds a la Cage's experiments with noise offers a rather flimsy neogeographical pastiche. Data foraging will pause for further analysis
Perhaps the title Fortean Geography applies, as these vernacular mapquests "don't conform to the protocols of proffessional practice" ( placekraft). Dragons and sea serpents on the maps of yore, the mysterious Terra Australis or incognita generally, there is a rich history of curious confluences of fact and fiction. Not precluding the potential of hollow earth and flat earth theories as neo-geographical in that they speculate on alternate schemes for trotting the globe.
In 1939, composer John Cage presented his score for the first in a series of Imaginary Landscapes. Sonic excursions involving variable speed turntables, radios, and noise. a neogeographical reconnaissance mission, seeking signals in noise. Chance operations involving volume settings, "left many people in the audience displeased...due to the fact that the work was fairly quiet," notes lecturer Guy de Bièvre. Intentional inderminacy produces uncertain results. Silence is a sound, noise is the poetry of machines.
The recent documentary Manufactured Landscapes by Jennifer Baichwai - about the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky abounds with an industrial-strength dose of "intentional landscapes." Not that the acres of factory workers in China assembling electronics, mountains of e-waste waiting for recycling, and upheaval of towns in the wake of a massive dam were part of an elaborate blueprint exactly. But more like inderminate new vistas unearthed under the auspices of intention, i.e. rampant industrialization. Silent sublime, Burtynsky's images speak loud and clear
Navigating the manufactured landscapes of China's industrial revolution with the coordinates of imagined audio worlds a la Cage's experiments with noise offers a rather flimsy neogeographical pastiche. Data foraging will pause for further analysis
posted by cdiehl at 2:20 PM
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