CREATIVE CARTOGRAPHY
Albuquerque joins ‘Maps by Artists’ national public art project
Sherri Brueggemann knows the importance of art — especially public art. As the division manager of the city of Albuquerque’s Public Art Urban Enhancement, Brueggemann is always looking for exciting ways to highlight Albuquerque on a national scale.
Then something like “Compass Roses: Maps by Artists” comes along.
The national public art project, which was started by Pittsburgh artists Renee Piechocki and Nadine Waserman, is coming to Albuquerque in 2021.
The Duke City will be the art project’s second city to participate.
“The Albuquerque Arts Board thought it was a great project, and Renee and Nadine are super-excited about the opportunity to bring it here,” Brueggemann says. “Not only does the artist share their voice about how they feel about this place in time, but also geographic place.”
The national public art project is a growing archive of maps by artists that explore a particular place from different points of view. The content of each map is therefore unique and might contain readily recognizable places or imaginary ones or those that have been forgotten or are unfamiliar.
The city is seeking entries for the project, which includes visual, literary and performing artists who live or work in the Albuquerque region.
The maps will be presented
at an exhibition in spring 2021 at the South Broadway Cultural Center Gallery, distributed to the public, and be presented on the Compass Roses website.
The maps are available for free on the project website and at community presentations and exhibitions.
According to Brueggemann, the artists’ maps will
reveal unique perspectives and interpretations, not just of particular places but of their own minds, moods and movements.
Participants are invited to interpret the map as they would a poem, a musical score or a screenplay, by following, meandering, roaming and discovering for themselves.
“The exciting part of the city is that we’re opening up the process to nonvisual artists,” she says. “If there are musicians, dancers and performing artists, we encourage them to apply. The great part is that the 15 artists selected will be able to give an artist the opportunity to participate.”
The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. Jan. 9.
Selected artists will be paid $300 to contribute a map to the project and their map, or a suitable archival copy, will become a part of the city of Albuquerque’s Art Collection.
Brueggemann says “Compass Roses: Albuquerque” will include a total of 30 artists. Fifteen will be selected through an open call process by a selection panel, and then those 15 artists will each be asked to invite an additional visual, literary or performing artist to participate.
All 30 artists will be compensated equally for their map contributions.