ABSTRACT
In February 2008, a Symposium on Art & Cartography was held for the very first time in the nearly 50-year history of the International Cartographic Association (ICA). Initiated by then-President of the ICA William Cartwright, Vice-President and Symposium Host Georg Gartner and Professor/Co-Host Antje Lehn, the event was a catalyst within the organisation that coalesced a strong network of artist-researchers working with a diverse variety of mapping processes and concerns, from aesthetics and design to communications, cinema and literary studies to intermedial, ephemeral and embodied practices of space. Since that first Symposium, the Working Group on Art & Cartography has become an official ICA Commission and has regularly held participatory workshops and exhibitions as well as edited special journal issues and publications, to build opportunities for growing networks of artist-cartographers and provide public outreach to promote spatial awareness and creative engagement. Using the ICA online archives, this chapter will trace the development of the Commission on Art & Cartography from its early inception to its present-day role in advancing cartographic knowledge in the arts and humanities. The Commission’s current mandate is to facilitate public events, collaborations and the international exchange of ideas and practices among diverse practitioners and theorists to develop interdisciplinary and hybrid artistic-cartographic practices.
