Buckminster Fuller one of the inspirations for YKON game seems to be a source of inspiration for Tomas Saraceno as well. Nice interview on http://www.sr.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=3049. – Beautiful work Tomas, Bucky and Sara A and the rest of the crew at Bonniers!
As a reflection on the YKON World Game, the whys and wherefores of it, let’s draw a parallel between two radically different utopian visions. A comparison between their play tells a story of its own…
First utopian vision:
Thomas More is rather well-known writer of the book Utopia, a renowned book by itself. So I’ll skip the bio, and assume everyone has a handle of who and what I’m talking about. One anecdote on the man, though: More is less well-known as the protagonist of R. A. Lafferty’s whirlwind of a novel, Past Master, which happens to imply the consequences of utopias in a rather subversive fashion.
The Development Concepts and Doctrine Centre at The Minsitry of Defense took a look into the Chrystal Ball to predict the development of security threats until the year 2036. A team of 50 people around Rear Admiral Chris Parry analysed the key risks of the future to prepare the defense forces for this threats. They predict among many other things a “coalition” of ultra-nationalists, religious groups and environmental radicalists that could be dangerous. Furthermore it is predicted, that the current middle classes fall under the spell of Neomarxism and develop revolutionary potential, replacing Marx’ proletariat (termed the Middle Class Proletariat). (more…)
Antarctica
YKON
In our work with micronations and other utopias we often stumble on documents of – from conventional academic perspective – the most startling and, in many cases, of the most unconceived and unconceivable character. Therefore, when we took upon our self to remap Antarctica, it came as no surprise that we one early morning should find the two missing chapters of “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket” lying in a corner of our laboratory on Vartiosaari island. These chapters, considered to contain important matter on the Pole itself – where never published by Edgar Allan Poe in the Southern Messenger under the garb of fiction due to the sudden and distressing death of Mr. Pym. They do indeed present the full account of what A.G. Pym (real name retained) saw and underwent on his adventures on the Southern Ocean and the Pole itself. When we had read the chapters, we immediately packed our bags in order to follow in the footsteps of Pym, and give Mr. Pym and his companions “habit of going on some of the maddest freaks in the world” worthy continuance. (more…)
Dealing with micronations and other utopias the reality/referent, fact/fiction dilemmas plague all theorizing. How should I write? How should I represent this or that utopia? Am I dealing with a critique of some kind? Is it a joke? Can it be taken seriously?
Paradoxically from a cartographic perspective: we do not have a problem. A map, explicitly representational, is not expected to be “realistic” Nevertheless it bears the burden of requirements of accuracy. Accuracy in respect of what? In respect of whom? The diverse contexts in which maps are produced and consumed clearly have ramifications far beyond the Ordnance survey (simplified: map making). (more…)