Performative Atlases

Memory, Materiality, and (Co-)Authorship

Bibliographic Data

ID14701277
AuthorsVeronica Della Dora (0000-0002-7665-8998, University of Bristol, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume44
Issue4
Pages240-255
Publication date2009-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCartographica The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0317-7173 • E-ISSN: 1911-9925
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3138/carto.44.4.240
OpenAlexW2135658979
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited47

Maps have traditionally been conceptualized as visual representations and studied for what they represent. In the past few years, however, scholars from different disciplines have started to approach them from new perspectives. Broadly speaking, art historians have shown increased interest in their materialities, and geographers and map historians in their social and performative aspects. This article reviews and synthesizes these approaches using the example of the atlas in its earliest and latest incarnations (Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and Google Earth). Atlases are conceptualized as mnemonic tools activated through different types of personal encounters that are at once visual and tactile. Focusing on performative encounters between atlases and their users, the article calls for a re-conceptualization of maps as fluid objects that are always in the making. It also invites a reading of the history of cartography as a history of interactions and co-authorships between map-makers and map users

Aesthetics · Art · Cognitive psychology · Conceptualization · Linguistics · Materiality (auditing · Mnemonic · Performative utterance · Reading (process · Sociology · Visual arts · Geographic Information Systems Studies · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Historical Geography and Cartography · History · Philosophy · Psychology

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