ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere
Chronicles of the Margins. Lesson #1
July
2021
Fri
2
ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere
Chronicles of the Margins*
Lesson #1
Jorge Ricardo Pinto, Cartography – distortions, manipulations and humanism
by Gisela Leal
We begin the classes with the focus on a map like the one that was hanging on a wall in our classrooms. A map of the world or of Portugal. Or rather, we begin with several maps, from different times and depicting different regions around the world. Maps with very different purposes, scales and symbolism, but coming together with a shared goal during the class-lecture by Jorge Ricardo Pinto: to show that throughout its history cartographic production has never leaned that much on looking for an objective and impartial representation as we may think in the first place, that it is far more reliant on and even at the service of a subjectivity that is sometimes naïve, but most of the times manipulative: “the interpreter changes, the map producer changes, the map changes”.
On the assumption that “Every map is a lie” because they are all based on principles of distortion (scale, projection, and symbolisation), Jorge Ricardo Pinto guided us through physical and symbolic territories using maps that established borders with greater or lesser distortion, and greater or lesser manipulation, propaganda, and phantasy.
Fast forward to today, there’s a cartographic opening for humanism, social unrest, and a radical agenda. Let’s us move forward with the new cartographers.
*Chronicles of the Margins - Gisela Leal, The Chronicler of the Margins, will follow the trans/cross-border expeditions of ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere, mapping the coordinates and identifying the territories explored by the “new cartographers” of the city in this open-air classroom. She summarised the covered contents on a daily basis.
Chronicles of the Margins*
Lesson #1
Jorge Ricardo Pinto, Cartography – distortions, manipulations and humanism
by Gisela Leal
We begin the classes with the focus on a map like the one that was hanging on a wall in our classrooms. A map of the world or of Portugal. Or rather, we begin with several maps, from different times and depicting different regions around the world. Maps with very different purposes, scales and symbolism, but coming together with a shared goal during the class-lecture by Jorge Ricardo Pinto: to show that throughout its history cartographic production has never leaned that much on looking for an objective and impartial representation as we may think in the first place, that it is far more reliant on and even at the service of a subjectivity that is sometimes naïve, but most of the times manipulative: “the interpreter changes, the map producer changes, the map changes”.
On the assumption that “Every map is a lie” because they are all based on principles of distortion (scale, projection, and symbolisation), Jorge Ricardo Pinto guided us through physical and symbolic territories using maps that established borders with greater or lesser distortion, and greater or lesser manipulation, propaganda, and phantasy.
Fast forward to today, there’s a cartographic opening for humanism, social unrest, and a radical agenda. Let’s us move forward with the new cartographers.
*Chronicles of the Margins - Gisela Leal, The Chronicler of the Margins, will follow the trans/cross-border expeditions of ARK Porto A School at the Edge of Nowhere, mapping the coordinates and identifying the territories explored by the “new cartographers” of the city in this open-air classroom. She summarised the covered contents on a daily basis.
© José Caldeira / TMP
© José Caldeira / TMP
© José Caldeira / TMP
