[ISEA2009] Artist Talk: Esther Polak – ElasticMapping: implications of a GPS drawing robot in times of locative media

Artist Statement

How working with (nomadic) dairy transporters in Nigeria results in the need for software that makes GPS data flexible.

To scale is not yet to edit. Editing begins when scaling can be balanced and adjusted to differed, chosen parts of data, to make pace for a choreography. This will give data an interval, a rhythm and a tone: in brief, a style.

As an artist I have been working with GPS1 since 2002 in a series of projects. My engagement with GPS data means that I am an artist working in the field of locative  media. As it is very difficult to find a solid definition for ‘locative media’, I borrow a description by Mark Tuters and Kazys Varnelis:

‘Broadly speaking, locative media projects can be categorized under one of two types of mapping, either annotative – virtually tagging the world – or phenomenological – tracing the action of the subject in the world.’

For me, my main interest has always been slightly different still. Although I do trace subjects in the world, my focus is to create new visualizations of these tracks and see what new kinds of experiences of space these visualizations bring about. The newness of the medium is very important to me.

  • Esther Polak, Independent artist, Amsterdam, The Netherlands    estherpolak.nl

Full text (PDF)  p. 1257-1265