THE CARTOGRAPHIC DISPOSITIF: FEW REMARKS ON “GLOBES” OF PETER SLOTERDIJK
DOI: 10.23951/2312-7899-2020-2-131-150
The author starts from the premise that the second volume of Peter Sloterdijk’s Spheres contains the conception of what could be called cartographic dispositif and tries to reconstruct separate provisions of this conception and relate them with some ideas made by contemporary specialized studies on the history of cartography. One of the main points, which Sloterdijk shares with these studies on maps and cartography, is that maps are too complex to be simple expression of spatial facts. Inscribing arguments about cartography in context of own theory of terrestrial globalization, Sloterdijk shows that cartographers were among its main actors and maps and globes of Earth were among its basic representational mechanisms and practical tools. The article provides description of what exactly was said by Sloterdijk about cartography and cartographic representations, extremely powerful tools of visualization and epistemic accumulation, but at the same time of political and economical control and of re-ordering of space. The main conclusion of the article is that Sloterdijk’s conception of cartography is in a unique position to support the sense of dizzying and intriguing complexity of cartographic representation and its historical types and forms (their very diversity is good enough reason for dizziness). This sense stands against deceptive obviousness (“we all know what a map is”), generated by equally deceptive “democratization of maps”, their pervasive presence and everyday uses. And if, as Matthey Edney says, “a map is representation of space complexity”, the very map is complex, being a strange hybrid of intelligible and empirical, theoretical and obvious, imaginary and real, what is seen and what is read, scientifical and political, actual and virtual, representation and performativе. But maybe this principal complexity of cartographic representation makes it a worthwhile object of research and fascination.
Keywords: globe, map, cartography, cartographic dispositif, visualization, Sloterdijk
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Issue: 2, 2020
Series of issue: Issue 2
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 131 — 150
Downloads: 1190