Abstract

The mapping of our world has long been a significant scientific undertaking, which has influenced how we think about the world and our place within it. A reconsideration of Mercator, whose work reflected upon an age of unprecedented mapping of both the global and celestial, provides a useful methodological starting point for reflecting upon mapping today when new digital technologies and approaches mean that our collective worldview is once again being radically altered. This chapter is a personal reflection on the legacy of Mercator, informed by the author’s artist-in-residency at the Mercator Museum in Sint-Niklaas, in Belgium. Mercator’s legacy is contrasted with the Powers of Ten by Ray and Charles Eames, which is analysed as one of the first examples of ontological mapping; as a succinct merging of different fields of knowledge into a coherent visual narrative. Both of these projects eloquently encapsulate the notion of wonder and the sublime.