daniel belasco rogers
::news::projects::texts::cv::contactthe drawing of my life (2003 - )
download an essay about this practise
I record everywhere I go (outside) with a GPS. I have been doing this since April 2003. My intention is to develop a sense for the drawing I am making across the surface of the earth with my body every time I move. There are technical reasons for why this is not easy in a building but everywhere I go that is in clear view of the sky, I turn my GPS on and begin recording my location.
The initial impulse behind wanting to know what the drawing of my life would look like started when I contemplated leaving London where I was born and grew up and started spending more time in Berlin after 2001.
At first I mourned the thought of all that knowledge of how to navigate around London plus all the stories and events that inform how I ‘read’ London being rendered useless in the new city. On further contemplation I realised that Berlin was offering me an option London now denies me – I could chart myself learning about a new city in a way I can’t with London – I could watch myself ‘joining the city up’.
As this practice has grown since those first journeys in Berlin, it has become a data source for everywhere I have been since April 2003. The journeys are either presented zoomed into cities or as whole continents or hemispheres. The practice is one that is constantly developing as the data is being added to and I reflect on the impact of recording every journey I make.
In 2007, Sophia joined me in this practice and now we can compare the drawings of two individuals whose lives intertwine.
We are currently working with Peter Vasil and his team of computer scientists to explore better ways of both administrating the gps data as well as visualising some of it. Some outcomes will be presented in Leipzig as part of The Monday Walks in June 2010. We hope that the collaboration will take us into the next projects that use gps
archive of maps
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Small Scale:
- Copenhagen*
- Banff*
- Bristol*
- Dusseldorf
- Gent
- Graz
- Kortrijk*
- Liverpool
- Montpellier
- Nottingham
- Prague
- Zurich
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Continental:
- Europe*
- World View*
*recently updated maps
>> daily practice of map making essay downloadable on texts page
seven year drawing berlin 2003 - 2009
six year drawing berlin 2003 - 2008
five year drawing berlin 2003 - 2007
one year drawing berlin 2009
Drew a strange circle this year by attending a friends wedding in Pankow, North Beriln, arriving one way and leaving in a taxi the other. Visited the Tierpark in the East for the first time.
one year drawing berlin 2008
Our first full Kreuzberg year. Notice the forking lines from Kreuzberg which has a less radial layout than Prenzlauerberg or Mitte and lends itself to parallel routing to different destinations.
one year drawing berlin 2007
This year you can clearly see our move from Mitte to Kreuzberg
one year drawing berlin 2006
This fractured drawing is the result of our daughter being born and me breaking my leg shortly afterwards. You can read the effect this had on my mobility. Was artist in residence at the Akademie der Künste in Bellvue this year.
one year drawing berlin 2005
one year drawing berlin 2004
The thick artery of Schoenhauser Allee widens. This year we took part in the Rollende Road Show in Wedding. To the South West there is a trip to the Botanical Gardens in Dahlem. To the East of the Ring Bahn, there is the guided walk I went on lead by Sean Patten. I also took part in a walk this year starting at the very North of the city and walking to the very South with Heimo Lattner and friends.
nine month drawing April - December 2003
seven year drawing london 2003 - 2009
six year drawing london 2003 - 2008
three year drawing london 2003 - 2006
all journeys in London from April 2003 until end November 2005
Perth (AUS)
Sydney
Hamburg
The maps below this point are 1/4 the scale of the maps above
copenhagen 2008 - 2009
Banff (CAN) 2008
bristol 2003 - 2008
Bristol 2003 - 2005
Düsseldorf
Gent
Graz 2005 - 2007
Graz 2006
kortrijk 2003 - may 2009
Kortrijk (BE) 2003 - 2008
Kortrijk 2003
Liverpool 2006
Montpellier (fr)
Nottingham (uk) 2003 - 2007
Nottingham (uk)
Prague 2006
Prague 2003
Zürich 2003 - august 2007
Zürich 2003 - March 2006
Zürich August 2003
Miscellaneous
seven year drawing europe 2003 - 2009
six year drawing europe 2003 - 2008
four year drawing europe 2003 - 2006
five year drawing everywhere 2003 - 2008
leftmost point is San Francisco, rightmost is Sydney
World - april 2003 - 2006
