Cartography as performance, start a map! happened in december 2008 while I was artist in residence at Cairo Townhouse Gallery. The activity took place at the Museum of Modern Egyptian Art in the context of Cairo Art Biennale.

Activity contents: Introduction to the theory and practice of collective tactical cartography.

First part: Theory and experiencies Cartography as representation vs cartography as performance. Principle of cartography by Deleuze and Guattari. Territories/hegemonic maps vs territories/other maps. Interpretation of reality and/or strategic tool: map as tool for critique and action. Cases studies: Seville global. Barcelona 2004, Istanbul critical map, Fadaiat and critical cartography of the Strait of Gibraltar, Meipi Asturies, Bureau d’Etudes/Universite Tangente, Rotorr. Georeferenced and not georeferenced maps.

Second part: On Methodologies What to map? With what objectives? What aspects of reality to map? How to visualize it? Layers, areas, channels, themes, metaphores. What databases to access? Data mining. Public vs propietary data. Software tools, creating it digitally and online. The importance of the artwork. Which subjects to map? A community as a mapmaker vs technician or artist cartographer. Distributed vs centralized and linear production. Feedback: how to connect mapping and action/transformation. Maps to activate social networks. Dissemination and distribution.

Third part: Practical exercises Starting a mapping project proposed by the participants. Presentation of Rafah Egypt-Gaza border cartographic project.