In winter 2006, under the stewardship of philosopher Wolfgang Scheppe, a collective of students from the IUAV University in Venice fanned out to subject their city to a forensic structural mapping. Out of this fieldwork, conducted in the Situationist psychogeography tradition, there developed a three-year urban project that produced an enormous archive comprising tens of thousands of photographs, case studies, movement profiles and statistic data. From this archive, Venice, sited as it is at the junction of three migration corridors, emerges as a classic instance of the increasingly globalized city in which a decimated inner-city population meets armies of tourists and a parallel economy supported by illegal immigrants. In a map that cleverly branches out into visual essays, written essays, data maps and interviews, the globalized territory of Venice is microscopically dissected and defined as an urban metaphor, the city becoming an “atlas of a global situation.”
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Design Issues
Thomas Kong
Migropolis: Venice, Atlas of a Global Situation is an ambitious and expansive two-volume work centred on Venice as the prototypical city confronting the forces of globalization and mobility in the 21st century. Conceived and led by Professor Wolfgang Sheppe, with assistance from his students at the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Venice, the editorial team has meticulously assembled a rich and diverse compilation of maps, diagrams, interviews, photographs, charts and essays to present the interplay of these two phenomena on the city. Scheppe and his team have compiled and presented to us overwhelming facts, evidences, stories, and a timely caution in Migropolis.
FORMAT: Slip, Hbk, 2 vols, 7 x 10 in. / 1344 pgs / 2078 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $195.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $240 ISBN: 9783775724852 PUBLISHER: Hatje Cantz AVAILABLE: 3/31/2010 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Hatje Cantz. Edited by Wolfgang Scheppe.
In winter 2006, under the stewardship of philosopher Wolfgang Scheppe, a collective of students from the IUAV University in Venice fanned out to subject their city to a forensic structural mapping. Out of this fieldwork, conducted in the Situationist psychogeography tradition, there developed a three-year urban project that produced an enormous archive comprising tens of thousands of photographs, case studies, movement profiles and statistic data. From this archive, Venice, sited as it is at the junction of three migration corridors, emerges as a classic instance of the increasingly globalized city in which a decimated inner-city population meets armies of tourists and a parallel economy supported by illegal immigrants. In a map that cleverly branches out into visual essays, written essays, data maps and interviews, the globalized territory of Venice is microscopically dissected and defined as an urban metaphor, the city becoming an “atlas of a global situation.”
