Performative Atlases: Memory, Materiality, and (Co-)Authorship

Abstract

Maps have traditionally been conceptualized as visual representations and studied for what they represent. In the past few years, however, scholars from different disciplines have started to approach them from new perspectives. Broadly speaking, art historians have shown increased interest in their materialities, and geographers and map historians in their social and performative aspects. This article reviews and synthesizes these approaches using the example of the atlas in its earliest and latest incarnations (Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum and Google Earth). Atlases are conceptualized as mnemonic tools activated through different types of personal encounters that are at once visual and tactile. Focusing on performative encounters between atlases and their users, the article calls for a re-conceptualization of maps as fluid objects that are always in the making. It also invites a reading of the history of cartography as a history of interactions and co-authorships between map-makers and map users.