Carto-City to Surface-City: un-mapping and re-mapping the urban emotion of missing

ABSTRACTDrawing on a fascination with Denis Cosgrove’s term ‘Carto-City’ that encompasses the concept that ‘Urban space and cartographic space are inseparable’ [Cosgrove, D. (2006). Carto-City. In J. Abrams, & P. Hall (Eds.), Else/where: Mapping New cartographies of networks and territories (pp. 148–157). University of Minnesota], this essay applies the idea to a conceptualisation of ‘city’ as urbaness – as a connected state of mind or urban emotion. Through a visual methodology of ‘unmapping’ and ‘re-mapping’ of Carto-City as Surface-City, this artistic research practice aims to contribute to how we understand and map the connected cartographies of contemporary urban consciousness. Cosgroves “seeing, imagining and representing” (2008) is re-interpreted to map a specific emotion within urbaness emerging out of the restricted transience of a world-wide pandemic – the emotion of missing. As physical city spaces across the world stood still, digital connection expanded creating a focused space for critical reflection on how interconnected layers of urban emotion might be mapped. My response to this, Surface-City, is grounded in my ongoing body of research into urban consciousness and its mapping through academic writing and visual practice.RÉSUMÉEn s'inspirant d'une fascination du terme ‘carto-cité' de Denis Cosgrove, terme qui porte l'idée que ‘l'espace urbain et l'espace cartographique sont inséparables' (Cosgrove 2006), cet essai applique cette idée à une conceptualisation de la ville en tant qu'urbanité – comme un état d'esprit connecté ou une émotion urbaine. Grâce à une méthodologie visuelle consistant à ‘dé-cartographier' et à ‘recartographier' la carto-cité comme une cité-surface, cette pratique de recherche artistique vise à contribuer à la manière dont nous comprenons et nous cartographions les cartographies connectées de la conscience urbaine contemporaine. L'expression ‘voir, imaginer et représenter' de Cosgrove (2008) est ré-interprétée pour cartographier une émotion particulière propre à l'urbanité, qui a émergé lors de la période éphémère d'une pandémie mondiale – l'émotion de manquer. Alors que les espaces urbains physiques du monde entier se sont arrêtés, la connexion numérique s'est développée, créant un espace particulier de réflexion critique sur la manière dont les couches interconnectées des émotions urbaines peuvent être cartographiées. Ma réponse à cela, la cité-surface, s'inscrit dans le cadre de mes recherches en cours sur la conscience urbaine et sa cartographie à travers l’écriture académique et la pratique visuelle.KEYWORDS: Carto-CitySurface-Cityun-mappingre-mappingurbaness Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsMaggie McCormickMaggie McCormick is Adjunct Professor in the School of Art, RMIT University and Hon. Professor at Reutlingen University, Germany. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Architecture at The University of Melbourne. She has a long history in the arts as an artist, curator, writer and academic. Across these fields she has a particular interest in how art practice contributes to a deeper understanding of the mapping of the changing nature of consciousness in an increasingly urbanised and digitalised world. Her most recent publication was in The Routledge Companion to Art in the Public Realm (2021). She currently co-edits the Art and Activism in Public Space issues of The Journal of Public Space (City Space Architecture, Italy and UN Habitat). She co-curated the Australian/German research project, SkypeLab (2012–2020), that drew together artists from Australia, Europe, China and South America, to explore the relationship of art practice to digital space. Her current art practice uses photography and drawing to create a cartography of layers of urban consciousness.