This artistic research project was born out of a collective desire to give a right of existence and a voice to a collection of cartographic archives that was saved in extremis from destruction in 2020, when the National Geographic Institute (IGN) moved from the site of the Abbaye de la Cambre in Brussels. What can we learn from this common good, abandoned by the public institution whose raison d'être and pride it was for a time?
The aim of the project is to study and restore the collection as an artistic and cultural asset. The first stage was the physical rescue of the maps and their temporary storage on the premises of the Atelier Cartographique. The operations carried out on this occasion allow us to make hypotheses about the richness of the collection. The aim of the project is to list, describe and classify - in short, to bring the archive to life on the basis of sensitive, material criteria, by making it speak, in order to enhance not only the documents themselves, but also what they say about the trades, techniques and production processes involved. Three types of action are linked to this objective:
- Constructing dialogues between an IGN archivist and female witnesses of the evolution of contemporary map art.
- To archive the discussions in the form of radio creations that will serve as arguments for artistic productions and the design of unique scenographies.
- The creation of three workshop-exhibitions to show the evolution of map art and territorial representations through typography and graphic design.
A second objective is to use the archive to shed light on the mysterious relationship between the artisans and crafts of the map and the public institution, in other words, beyond the IGN, the public actors who use cartography and computer graphics to inspire and inform public action.