Maplabs

The book Free the Map, written by Henk van Houtum and designed by De Vormforensen, goes beyond the narrow, state-centric cartography which characterizes the standard Atlas.

To liberate and emancipate the map, we have invited various artists, designers, activists, and academics to formulate a briefing for a concrete, what we would call, Maplab to practice a collective art of mapping. The result of our invitation is a rich collection of inspiring Maplab briefings that, we hope, could serve as inspiration for the academic/artistic/activist debate on cartography as well as offer concrete starting points and tools in education. 

These briefings are included in the final section of the book and are also available for free at this website.

The book is made possible with the support from The Creative Industries Fund NL and Pictoright. This research and book is made possible with the following partners: Fameus, KB nationale -bibliotheek, Museum Arnhem, Sint Lucas -Antwerp, and Radboud University.

You can order Free the map at nai010 publishers

© 2024 Henk van Houtum & De Vormforensen, nai010 publishers, Rotterdam. 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For works of visual artists affiliated with a CISAC-organization the copyrights have been settled with Pictoright in Amsterdam.