Secretary of Defense Robert McNamera pointing to a map of Vietnam at a Press Conference, April 1965
(Source: Library of Congress, Washington, USA)
The research project «White Spots Black Holes» investigates
the role of mapping in political decision-making processes.
Maps have always been tools to visualize and to consolidate power,
to communicate stability. Maps do also communicate and create identity as they are visualizations of includity and excludity, of difference, contrast, closeness and distance not only in spatial
but also in contextual relation.
Designers are more and more often confronted with the visual communication of complex systems and processes. As the design of communication is closely linked to its content, it is also responsible for developing adequate visual forms for this content. This leaves great potential for political and economical actors to channel their interests.
What is mapped and what is not mapped? What are the «White Spots and Black Holes» visualized in a map that is commonly seen as a neutral form of representation?
What happens in these «unmapped» areas? How can cartographic representations record and provoce change? Can mapping be a tool to gain understanding of one's position in a (geographical) system and to map out future strategies?
Through the close examination of case studies in design and mapping
practice, a greater unterstanding is achieved of the functionality and role of mapping. This forms the basis for international workshops that try to develop tools for cultural actors and graphical amateurs for opening up counter-public by «placing themselves on official maps».
In the form of public discussion, the project tries to reveal the restrictions and possibilities of visual representation of political processes, its danger of manipulation and the role designers can take in this field.
Run by Matthias Görlich in collaboration with Design2Context, design research insitute of the University for the Arts, Zurich, Switzerland
the projects sees itself as platform for research, production and public discourse. For further information, please send an email to mail@whitespotsblackholes.com
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Matthias Görlich is Communication Designer based in Darmstadt, Germany and Zurich, Switzerland. With his studio, he works internationally
in the fields of research, design and strategy.
The studios' approach is led by a holistic thinking about
organization, hierarchies and dependencies
for making complex structures accessible and controlable. Main focus is the creation
and implementation of identity concepts, the development
of communication strategies and the visualization of complex information.
Recent projects include a study on spatial strategies for the European Kunsthalle, an exhibition-design for the Museum for Communication, Frankfurt and a signage concept for a building complex in Switzerland.
Matthias Görlich currently acts as an external consultant for a
United Nations project on the urban development of refugee camps
in the middle east and he is coordinating «White Spots Black Holes»
a research project investigating the role of mapping in political processes at Zurichs Institute Design2Context, University for the Arts. Matthias is member of «Spaces
of Production», a research project on the development of spatial strategies in curatorial practice and he is teaching information visualization at the Faculty for Design, University Darmstadt. For more information, please visit www.mgoerlich.com
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Design2context in Zurich, Switzerland is an Institute for design research, which has been found by Prof. Dr. Ruedi Baur at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK). It focuses on the broader aspects of design and visual communication. It initiates a various range of research projects with private and public partnerships, which are rooted in the design field as well as outside. Design2context is interested in the participation of various professionals and parties from various design fields, from science, and small, medium and large businesses. On the institute website www,design2context.ch you can obtain an overview of the current research domains and projects: Fundamental design research; Representation and Identity; Scenography Design; Emergency Design®; Urban identity; Signage systems.
