Artist Statement

COUNTER/CARTOGRAPHIES attempts to map out contemporary aesthetic practices in their various political terrains. To test collaboration and collectivity as a productive mode of artistic and political expression, a series of emails invite and enable participation in a virtual network of alliances.

Since the initial email invitation, C.CRED has developed the COUNTER/ CARTOGRAPHIES project in three interlinked directions to include the following components:
1) A major cartography: The information we receive, and the way email does or does not spread into other networks, has been registered as a major cartography: a web-resource listing all participants and their various activities plus some of the email lists and contact networks we work with has been created.
2) Platforms and minor cartographies: Linked to the major cartography, we have setup a series of counter/cartography platforms. Their focus is the production of minor cartographies based on real-time events such as walks, meetings, parties, etc. staged in relation to a specific local terrain and dealing with issues significant within the context of that terrain.
3) Office and research structure: In conjunction to this cartographical system, provides a virtual and physical space where these cartographies and networks can be worked through theoretically and conceptually.
At ISEA 2004 the COUNTER/CARTOGRAPHIES project will be represented by a series of events in Tallinn, Helsinki, Mariehamn and on board the ISEA cruise. An archive installation in Tallinn Art Hall will link these events to previous components of the project.
C.CRED [Collective CREative Dissent] is a London based artist/theorist collective set up in 2001.

• Carl Lindh (SE)
• Simon O’Sullivan (UK)
• Kajsa Thelin (SE/USA)
• Ola Stahl (UK)

Full document (PDF) p. 88