February 12, 2026

A Surrealist Map Film!

February 12, 2026/ Matthew Edney

I just learned that the wonderful 1980 exhibition, Cartes et figures de la terre, spawned a surrealist film by the Chilean director Raúl Ruiz:

Raúl Ruiz, dir., “Zig-Zag, le jeu de l’oie (Une fiction didactique à propos de la cartographie)” (Zig-Zag, Snakes and Ladders [a didactic fiction about cartography]) (film produced by France 2 and Centre Georges Pompidou, released 17 September 1980).

A couple of versions are on youtube, one with English subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSbi7hkfmas

Mapping as Process

Mapping as Process is a space for me to explore a new approach to understanding mapping and its history. The exploration will eventually contribute to a book of the same name.

Search Mapping as Process:

The books …

Comparative Map History and “the History of Cartography”: Methodologies, Institutions, and Idealizations in Brill Research Perspectives on Map History. Available from Brill in print and as an ebook ($87).

Cartography in the European Enlightenment, Volume Four of The History of Cartography, edited by myself and Mary Pedley. Available from the University of Chicago Press, in print and ebook ($500).

Available from the University of Chicago Press in paperback ($30), e-book ($10–30), or cloth ($90).

Some paperback ($38) copies are still available, as well as the ebook, from the University of Chicago Press.

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