Rerouting Google Maps: drawing- and performance-based methods in action

Abstract

The following paper outlines an arts-based research project that uses drawing and performance to critically examine the perceptual conditions generated by locative media, specifically the dominant Google Maps platform. The research is based on a series of wayfinding encounters in four major urban centres—Toronto, ON, New York, NY, London, UK, and Amsterdam, NL—during which the artist-researcher asked passers-by for directions with the additional request the directions be drawn using the instruments provided. The paper considers the street-level behaviours and practices of location-awareness and orientation set against the constructions of trust, seamlessness, and claim to space Google Maps deploys.