Kartograph

Kartograph updates old maps by drawing new geographic data over the infrastructure of old times using the internet. The selection of the section is based on the location of the machine. The starting material are old atlases and maps that conceivably used to be the main source of knowledge for information regarding countries near or far. Their purpose was taken over more and more by online services like Google Maps or OpenStreetMap in the last three decades. While classic paper maps are basically already outdated the moment they get published, digital map services stay valid by simply updating themselves instantly. But this advantage over the analogue reduces the object to its mere informational value and disregards all the other levels of meaning that especially maps contain as reflections of the image we have of the world as a culture. Unimpressed by this, the machine overwrites the old source and thus not only demonstrates the structural changes that took place in this area since the printing of the original map but also the shift of technical systems and its social implementations.

Material: street map, aluminium, steel, wood, steppermotors, electronics, pen
Size: 1800 × 1250 × 15 cm