Where am I now?

I make maps to find my way. They are a way of getting to know. I make them from other maps, memories, direct observation, or imagination. Sometimes they take the form of a diagram, sometimes they are objects.
In making them, I become.

The maps I’ve collected here tell three stories about water:
My Netherlands maps are a way of finding my way in this new territory-mechanism.
My Madrid maps tell a story that happened there centuries ago, whose echoes still can be listened today.
My imaginary maps lack cartesian coordinates, yet they talk about situatedness.
Maps are objects from the past that connect me to the future.

I am here, but where am I now?

I spend long times observing the seams between technology, society and nature, often trying to make sense of embedded logics I find troubling. I navigate themes such as the value of data, information infrastructures, systems of control, or the figure of the diagram as a tool for speculation and knowledge generation. I use for the purpose plenty of browser research, satellite-view journeys (also physical journeys), data artifacts, clay, off-cycled waters, urban residues, and other devices that may come handy.

Elisa Cuesta (@ecuestaf)

Three stories of water, 2021