A Cartogram of Vilém Flusser’s Nomadism
This contribution presents a cartogram, a map that is altered so that the surface area of geographic entities are proportional to another kind of value. Developed by Clemens Jahn and Daniel Irrgang for the exhibition “Bodenlos – Vilém Flusser and the Arts” at ZKM Karlsruhe (2015) and the Academy of Arts Berlin (2015/16), it visualizes Vilém Flusser’s nomadism, a complex interplay of experiences of displacement and intersubjective connection. While the cartogram was initially disseminated within the exhibition context, it has not been widely published until now, making this special issue of Flusser Studies an opportunity for broader engagement. The publication is accompanied by an introduction written for this issue, which contextualizes the cartogram within Flusser’s biographical narrative and highlights its relevance in examining the ongoing issues of displacement and uprootedness in society.
Vernetzung der Welt
My first connection with Flusser was in the place of his birth – Prague. Later in Prague and Zurich I read in magazines many articles by him. The text “Towards a Philosophy of Photography” was very important for me. Vilém Flusser finds in photography a possibility to realize a space of freedom. In that sense, Photography is a starting point for every philosophy. In the text “Kommunikologie weiter denken” Flusser stated: “The space is not only twisted. The space comes to me and I come to him [it]. Time is twisted too. Past becomes future and future becomes past and both are contemporary.” This is the point of view of the graphic Vernetzung der Welt.
