Exhibition Beyond Cartography
Installations: Map, the Wind Rose
Map was made of a sheet composed of 32 maps photocopied onto acetate/transparency, white and red bulbs, a floor drawing made with chalk, a small glass bottle containing water and sea salt and a balloon. I previously exhibited the maps as a part of the installation The Beach Hut in June 1999. I hung them slightly detached from the wall to allow the available light to cast a shadow of the drawings onto the wall. At the Lighthouse Tower, instead, I suspended the sheet of maps in the middle of the watch room from the ceiling. I attached the glass bottle to the balloon and the latter with maps using fishing lines. The viewer's perception of the maps changed according to the different points of view. From one side, they seemed being projected onto the walls and another they formed a vertical line, which cut the space into two halves.
I created the installation The Wind Rose in the lantern room of the tower. I used a circle of sea salt crystals, chalk lines, two glass bowls with water and floating candles, one map photocopied onto acetate, three balloons and fishing lines. I suspended the map from the balloons, which gradually lost height letting the map to collapse on the circle of salt with the passage of time. The circle of salt represented the North Sea.
The particular architectonic features of the room and the nature of the objects forming the Wind Rose blended together through a play between natural, artificial light and reflections of the landscape and the architecture of the tower onto their surfaces. The viewer could see the overlapping of the real Granton harbour with its representation on the floating map when looking at the landscape through the glass wall of the lantern room.
The installation Map suggested communication through light and the pictographic language forming the map between the landscape and the human body. The viewer was able to get close to the maps and read their contents.
The installation The Wind Rose was based from the cartographic symbol of the compass rose, used by cartographers in sea charts. I wanted to expand its boundaries into a three dimensional space suggesting a live presence. The structure had a time based quality. It was delicate and strong, sensitive to the changes of the environment. My aim was to remind the viewer of the complexity and fragility of the human existence.