Realities
If we are aware of the discourse of the space and, the relation between society and visualization, we can deconstruct the way societies are constructed and re-draw it differently.
In Free Fall: A Thought Experiment on Vertical Perspective, Steyerl explains how new technologies give us tools to create new multi-surfaced perspectives to create dream scape.
Corner emphasizes the power of mapping, which is a performative process both analogical and abstract. It might not be important to distinct facts from fantasy, as even the facts are a re-creation of the world. (Corner, 1999)
Butler explains how the acting and creating of reality goes hand and hand, and to make a stand we must be aware that reality is constructed through our actions and participation, that also gives us the strength to change it. (Butler, 1988)
Realities are performative as they manifest through acts, in the same moment they become constructed truths.
This way of looking at the relations between acting and understanding of our surroundings, opens up for new ways of reading our position and responsibilities in society.
Elements we accept as the `truth` in our daily life might not be as static as we believe. We can change norms and change standards if we are willing to act differently, position us, and take a stand.
It means that by being critical towards what is presented as the truth, and the requirements expected from us, we as individuals can have more power, and more responsibilities in shaping the direction our society is going.
A shift in our way of dealing with, and acting upon, the reality by ‘embodying’ new ways of drawing the world. I believe Steyerl is describing an exploration and an awareness of the power of creating alternative realities.
Something is lingering in the shadows, and by gaining a wider awareness of the diffuse space we can allow for mapping potential alternative ways of living founded on other values than the market-driven.*
Representations of Jerusalem
Fragment of Discourse*
* title inspired by A Lover's discourse by Barthes (pdf)
Ancient maps of Jerusalem:
The National Library of Israel - The Eran Laor Cartographic Collection, National Library of Israel
Jerusalem map by Wipper. Danish translation of the original in Russian. 1887.
Representations of Lifta
Storytellers
Lifta springA Liftawis’ family who used to live in Lifta
* fragment from social science essay
Butler, Judith, Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, Theatre Journal Vol. 40, No.4 (Dec.; 1988), The Johns Hopkins University Press(Ed.), pp.519-531,
Corner, James, The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Intervention (In Denis Cosgrove(ed.), Mappings, reaktion Books, London, 1999,) p. 231 – 252
Garcès, Marina,2012, Honestly with the real, Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, 4:1, 18820,DOI: 10.342/jac.v4i0.18820
Lefebvre, Henri, Det bymessige rommets poroduksjonsprogress( In Aspen, Jonny og Pløge, John(Red.), På sporet av byen, Spartacus Forlag A/S, Oslo, 1997) p. 43-57
Steyler, Hito, In Free Fall: A Thought Experiment on Vertical Perspective,Journal #24 - (April 2011), E-flux.
Butler, Judith, Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory, Theatre Journal Vol. 40, No.4 (Dec.; 1988), The Johns Hopkins University Press(Ed.), pp.519-531,
Corner, James, The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Intervention (In Denis Cosgrove(ed.), Mappings, reaktion Books, London, 1999,) p. 231 – 252
Garcès, Marina,2012, Honestly with the real, Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, 4:1, 18820,DOI: 10.342/jac.v4i0.18820
Lefebvre, Henri, Det bymessige rommets poroduksjonsprogress( In Aspen, Jonny og Pløge, John(Red.), På sporet av byen, Spartacus Forlag A/S, Oslo, 1997) p. 43-57
Steyler, Hito, In Free Fall: A Thought Experiment on Vertical Perspective,Journal #24 - (April 2011), E-flux.