Nathalie Daniel-Risacher
No. 103-104 – spring-summer 2013

Cartography and Contemporary Art. “The Body of the Place.” 1


In the 5th century B.C., when Herodotus sought to understand the causes of the war between the Greeks and the Persians, he painted— with the help of words — a world in the shape of a skull. Such an anthropomorphic representation immediately takes us to the core of the problematic inherent in the composition of cartography: in attempting to visualize the organization of territories in the most scientific manner possible, it is himself that man represents, it is himself that he seeks to draw.

“The world is small. The dry land is six parts of it; the seventh only is
covered with water. Experience has already shown this, and I have written
of it in other letters, and with illustration from Holy Scripture concerning
the situation of earthly paradise, as Holy Church approves.” 2

Christopher Columbus’ testimony, about 2000 years later, is also that of a man shaped by his time, living in a century that had a finite and rationally ordered representation of the world. In his mind, through calculation he could find navigable sea routes to India. Man is at the centre of creation: the elements, animals and savages alike are ordered according to his will. It is stirring to take stock of both the strangeness and scantiness of this still medieval world: the often luxuriant lands are inhabited by extraordinary humans and animals, concentrating creation’s incredible possibilities within a small parcel of land. Already during the age of discovery — as is


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