about artgeography

Artgeography is the name under which we summarize cultural historical and artistic activities concerning the investigation of the impact that humans have on the city and the countryside, taking into consideration the links of myths and meanings and putting it into visual form.

Artgeography combines on-site research with the resources found there, applying creative observation and interpretation.

Artgeography draws from Art, Art Culture, Art History and Geography, it seeks advice from other disciplines such as cartography, phenomenology and philosophy, and wants to offer stimulating impulses.

elaboration

There are many sites and regions that can serve as starting points for artgeographical investigations, as they contain many visual and hidden, yet meaningful, characteristics. Relevant artgeographical sites in the landscape or in the urban area are linked to – often collective – meanings coming from history, literature, culture or myths, but also to more individual memories. Often it is a combination of both.

A site may have a form indicating a special meaning, however, often very little remains to be seen, only memories, myth and speculation. Mostly stratification is dealt with, in time also, of different meanings such as fictive, legendary and religious ones. In addition, notions with a geographical meaning are important, such as altitude, focal points and lines like meridians and longitude. All these "meaningful" layers and coordinates of sites are seldom visual, but nonetheless undeniably present and for the artgeographer essential.

Artgeographical investigation of sites allows for the combination of anecdotes and absurdities, sometimes speculative, paradox and visionary elements with regular (tourist) and scientific data. Controversy about the significance of a given site is not necessarily solved, but only brought to light.

Artgeography focuses on locations that play an important role in imaginary art, literature, cartoons and films, as an environment or background for events in stories and anecdotes, creating the opportunity to let them continue to exist as real sites.

An interesting point for investigation is how people deal with their history and the sites where it occurred. How an event develops into a memory, and sometimes even a national myth, including its absurdity and distortion of reality.
Sometimes political and historical discussions anticipate collective memories and claim their location to be the crystallization of the desired memory. The story and myth still have to follow.

Artgeographical exploration of locations invites people to experience, act and observe in a new way.

An artgeographer travels there, often more than once and returns with new data, ideas, intriguing images and texts. Once presented to the public in websites, art projects and publications it may inspire and stimulate others to investigate in a similar way.

Almost all sites presented on this website can be retraced on maps; one can travel to them, visit and investigate these “sites as sources of myths”.

In the section “Artgeographical Traveling”, the method of artgeographical traveling and investigation is explained, using several inspiring examples. Nico Hemelaar/Jan Zeven.

(transl. by Paul C. Smits)