Emotional Cartography: where map-making meets science and art

24 April 2009

In his Bio Mapping projects, artist Christian Nold has been blending technology and cartography for the past five years. Now, with funding from the Wellcome Trust, he has examined some of the issues raised by his work, in a book being launched in London tonight.

Called 'Emotional Cartography: Technologies of the self', the book contains essays by neuroscientists, designers, artists and psychogeographers, each examining the implications of using technology to visualise biometric data and emotional experiences.

In any single Bio Mapping project, Nold will ask volunteers to move through a particular area - sometimes along a specific route - and to note their emotional responses at any given point. Augmenting their notes is a GPS device to chart their progress with pinpoint accuracy, and equipment to record the amount of sweat on their fingers in real time.

By combining the physiological and anecdotal records of his volunteers, Nold then creates a 'bio map' of the area in question. Bio maps of San Francisco, Stockport and Greenwich are included in 'Emotional Cartography'.

"People who wore the device, tried it out while going for a walk and then saw their own personal emotion map visualised afterwards, were baffled and amazed," says Nold. "But their positive reactions hardly compared to the huge global newspaper and TV network attention that followed the launch of the project.

"People approached me with a bewildering array of commercial applications: from estate agents in California wanting an insight into the geographical distribution of desire, to advertising agencies wanting to emotionally re-brand whole cities. I was shocked: my device - or more correctly, the idea or fantasy of my device - had struck a particular 21st-century zeitgeist."

The essays in 'Emotional Cartography' investigate this apparent desire for technologies capable of mapping our emotions, and attempt to reach a deeper understanding of Nold's work.

Tonight's launch event at Space Studios in Hackney, London, will feature talks by two of the contributing authors, Dr Tom Stafford and Sophie Hope, followed by a discussion of some of the issues arising from the book.

The event is open to all: see the ‘Emotional Cartography’ website for more details. You can also download a free copy of the book from the website.

Image credit: Christian Nold