Rejecting illusionism: Transforming space into maps and into art

Abstract

This chapter addresses the interaction and balance between two types of human activity: the general creative impulse, and current mapping activity based on a scientific framework. It is pre-supposed that there is some parallel distinction between the former, represented by art, and the latter, represented by contemporary cartography. The intention is to examine the nature of the distinction, and the boundaries or transition zones between them. An exploration is made of the rules and norms which define an object as being on one or other side of such a boundary – being either cartographic or artistic.