Stoppages, from the World Map Project

Artist/Creator: Antonia Hirsch (Artist)
Date: 2011
ID #: BG6292

Physical Description

Medium: –
Support: –
Dimensions: 26.5 cm 108.5 cm 76.5 cm (Object)
Aluminum case)
Object Description: Antonia Hirsch's Stoppages is designed as a portable unit that includes polyester straps of the type commonly used for the purposes of restraint or containment. These straps represent the length of the land borders of each sovereign country in the world at a scale of 1:1,000,000. For an exhibition at Republic Gallery, Vancouver, Stoppages – as a highly abstracted map – was transposed into the real space of the gallery, giving rise to a dubious alliance of states. Stoppages is part of Hirsch's series The World Map Project, which also includes Rivers and Borders (2006), Average Country (2006), Equal Countries A-Z (World Map Project) (2006), Monde Metrique (2005) and other projects. These projects do not present the world as we know it, but have us reconsider iconic maps as abstractions, indexes, referents and as potentially indecipherable. For instance, Average Country (2006) is a stack of posters, each bearing the image of a world map: the shape of each of the world’s countries is scaled to occupy the same relative area, appearing as a transparent layer. All layers are overlaid, rendering the centre of the image densest. Takeaway copies of the poster deplete the stack. Forecast (annual rainfall by country) (2005) is a world map in which the size of each country is represented as proportional to the percentage of that nation’s average annual rainfall. Blot (Gross Domestic Product by country) (2000) presents the world as an assembly of state maps statistically resized according to GDP.

History

Collection: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery Permanent Collection
Credit Line: Anonymous gift, 2023
Related Exhibitions

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