Enceladus, © NASA/JPL-Caltech
Mapping the Uncharted: Episode 4 of From the Moon 2
December 5 2022
The fourth episode of season 2 of From the Moon looks at a vital part of knowledge when it comes to understanding both the surface of our own planet, or indeed any part of the universe. From the Mississippi Delta in Louisiana to an icy moon of the distant planet Saturn, the episode goes to see how geography and design, as well as art and science fuse to create the maps we often take for granted. Mapping the Uncharted sees the host of the podcast, David Plaisant, converse with art historian Leslie Geddes and information designer Irene Stracuzzi.
In many ways we can see mapping itself as a perpetual collaboration between art and science.
David Plaisant
I like the freedom of being able to imagine and to visualize anything, which is what the designers can do, as opposed to scientists. So I really like this collaboration between art and science, because we can create something that our professions alone don't let us create normally.
Irene Stracuzzi
Leslie Geddes
I know we're going to be trying to talk about mapping in particular sort of cartographic approaches to thinking through primarily space, but I would extend that concept outward and say that their whole spheres of knowledge, basically every arena of human inquiry, going back to antiquity, we can find examples of artists, architects, engineers, trying to think through problems of observing the world around us.
Leslie Geddes
David Plaisant is a freelance journalist and writer based in Italy. He began his career in London, where he worked in architecture and design advocacy groups and then as a design writer and radio producer for multimedia brand Monocle.
Irene Stracuzzi is a graphic designer based in Amsterdam and teaches in the master departments at Design Academy Eindhoven as a design tutor. Specializing in graphic design, art direction and information design, she works independently as well as collaboratively for clients in the fields of art and culture. Her research practice aims at translating complex findings into accessible visual formats, reflecting on the role of design as a critical tool to share knowledge.
Leslie Geddes is Art History, Italian Renaissance & Baroque Art Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Tulane University. Her research broadly concerns how early modern artists studied and depicted the natural landscape. Her work investigates the interrelation of art and science, specifically how early modern artists, architects, engineers, and cartographers observed, measured, rendered, and shaped the world around them.
Credits
Host: David Plaisant
Project management: Pale Blue D°t
Sound editor: Alex Portfelix
Soundtrack: Jon Arnold of Super Drama
