1 thought on “Do maps create reality?”

1. This is exactly it — that article you found is fantastic.

   “Throughout our examination of maps as both creators and representations of reality, the underlying theme has been this: maps are only able to represent truth and fact by lying . . . Maps lie to tell the truth. They lie in order to make a point.”

   Oscar Wilde said that about art — “Art is lies that tell the truth.”

   We should look at the other videos in that series with Robert Cribb — they’re short but have interesting tidbits in them. In this one, “Can a cartographer also be a historian?” he says, “It is certainly true that maps are not recognized as historical analysis in the way that prose is recognized.” It makes me wonder how complex of a narrative we could tell on stage through only Maps — paths of movement and the charts of that movement, graphs showing where someone spent their time, or what they ate, or how much time they spent awake or asleep, with friends or studying. Can there be nuanced stories told in this manner, of love and heartbreak, happiness and depression, obsessive behavior or ennui?

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