Special thanks to: Hobby Limon & TAG Fine Arts; Maggie Gray; London Peter Barber & The British Library; Marcel van den Broecke – Cartographica Neerlandica (A Ortelius map); Edd Pearman & Coriander Studio, London; Jan Parmentier & The
nova a star that unexpectedly becomes very bright and then returns to its normal brightness over a period of months or years… (Macmillan Dictionary 2012). TOUR OF NOVA UTOPIA Nova Utopia is place of dreams! A large leisure island stat
Tour of the Island - Where to go: The Prora Coast The Prora Coast offers great value package tours and is a Mecca for sun lovers, with fabulous beaches offering miles of unbroken sand. The popular region has seen massive development in re
Activa The region of Activa is hugely popular with the young and sporty, and the area is a centre for water sports. The windswept beaches of Mustus and Activa are great for surfing, while the awesome Activa Lake is known for its activity holi
Sapientia Sapientia caters more for an elderly and retired clientele. Stannah, Cordurer and Gurning Bay provide sleepy retreats away from the hustle and bustle of Prora. The water tends to be colder than further down the coast but the region
Feo For those interested in social history, the old industrial heartland of Feo is a fascinating region. Tours go to many of its manufacturing sites but several others are not mentioned in official brochures, so ask around. The Feos are fier
Munus In the Munus region the star attraction is the central city of Aircastle (Castillo Aire), which has long been Utopia’s capital and financial district. It has a vibrant centre and an active arts scene, and its charming museum and Latin q
Mosris Mosris is one of Utopia’s less populated counties and is ideal for those looking for a rural retreat, and fine dining. Its delightful coastal hamlets have a quintessentially traditional feel. Over-fishing in the past has led to extrem
Temor Mosris’ pleasant scenery is owing to its proximity to the spectacular region of Temor and the Maumturks mountain range. This wonderful landscape is popular all year round: vast resorts cater for skiers in the winter months and mountain
Flosris The small headland of Flosris is a haven for the world’s rich. Its secluded beaches, chic hilltop villas and luxury resorts are dream destinations for those who can afford them. The five star hotels and restaurants of Orondo and Sali
Cosmo Cosmo is a diverse and occasionally controversial region, well known for its scientific research and for being the first province to set up one of the institutions dubbed ‘centres for hope’. Euthanasia tourism has become the defining f
Getting around Whilst the private rail network covers the whole country, it is generally expensive and offers poor value for money. Once the pride of the nation, the system is in massive need of investment. Make sure you book in advance, pric
Sacrum Part of this territory borders the province of Sacrum, a famous refuge for alternative cultures in opposition to privatization. Community projects promoting sustainable living are common, as are artistic and holistic retreats, farms an
Money, Costs and the Economy The local currency on Nova Utopia is the de Niro (D). It’s very easy to change and withdraw cash throughout the island, particularly in the larger towns, cities, and tourist sites, and all places accept major cred
Fin de la Tierra Just about everything on Nova Utopia comes with a price tag. Be prepared to pay entry fees to the vast majority of attractions, book in advance, check the map for estimated prices and budget carefully before you visit.
Regional Culture and Politics Regional distinctions in Nova Utopia have evolved organically over time, but have been accelerated in recent years by the government’s attempts to devolve legislation. The increasing geographical (and economic) s
Political unrest A number of new political organizations have emerged on Nova Utopia in response to anti-capitalist feeling among the island’s citizens. Most notorious of these is Feo’s Utop Separatist movement, who argue that the morals whic
Beacons of hope and the Picnic Movement The segmentation of much of Nova Utopian society has become a concern to many on the island in recent years. The effects of overpopulation, the Internet and the automation of daily life have compounded
One of the most interesting recent phenomena on the island is The Picnic Movement. Some of the only swathes of land left in public hands are the road networks. Picnic areas can be found on many of the lay-bys here and it is in these places where thi
___________________________________ HISTORY Ancient Utopia Little is known of ancient Utopia. Its early inhabitants left no written accounts; only their stone monuments and burial mounds remain. These fascinating sites are often aligned to
Utopia: Traditional Period According to local folklore, the ancient name for Utopia was 'Navel of the Earth', but the earliest written records call it Utopia (No-placia), the name given by the traditional settlers who came to the island in th
The Transitional Years: 1500-1800 The famous traveller Raphael Nonsenso was the first to describe Utopia to the Western world in 1516. He continued to visit the island and espouse its culture for the rest of his life. By the Renaissance peri
The Revolution of 1900 In 1851 a number of Utopian dignitaries including Diego Savo (then a young member of the Open Church) visited Europe and The Great Exhibition in London. The visit is considered a defining moment in Utopian history, ushe
Nova Utopia From this point on, the island was known as Nova Utopia, and the new century heralded the complete restructuring of Utopian society into a capitalist state. The promotion of wellbeing, good child-care, gardening and farming, and
The country established it’s first currency, the de Niro, which was an immediate success. Much of Utopia’s foreign currency reserve was exchanged for the new money and spread throughout the population in the form of business investment schemes. Mini
____________________________________________________________ FURTHER INFORMATION: SUMMARY Thomas More wrote Utopia in 1615, coining the word itself. My map Nova Utopia, treats More’s island as if were a real place, using More’s book as its
Certain things that More described remain, including the rough size of the Island, the traces of its 54 elegant towns spread evenly throughout and it has a prominent bay now named the Mouth of Feo, with its outcrops of rocks and a garrison tower. Ma
The shape and coastline of the island mirrors a 1596 map of Utopia by the renowned cartographer Abraham Ortelius. In his version, Ortelius used a web of varying languages for his place-names many, of which were geographical contradictions such as Ia
I remix this patterning here, using the dominant languages of my sphere - mainly English, Spanish and Latin, with a scattering of French, German, and Mandarin Chinese. I have also constructed a hybrid language for many of the island’s place names.
The Picnic Movement can be seen is a metaphor for grass-roots projects, The Right to Roam movements such as The Kinder Scout Trespass of 1932, Occupy, and to the act of gathering itself; sub-cultures that thrive on the margins of a much larger and p
All things including the natural surroundings have been developed into a collection of regions distinct from one another and a compendium of alternate forces. Small projects tend to attract only like-minded clientele. Tensions about overpopulation
(Installation shot - Enclosure, at Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London, UK, 2014, curated by Gabriela Schutz and Danielle Arnaud). The Hagioscope (squint) Frame: hagioscope also called squint, in architecture, any opening, usually obliqu
I had the idea to present the original drawing here in a hagioscope frame. This frame fully encapsulates the work, so that it is visible only through a single, movable portal fitted with a magnifying lens and let from behind with LED bulbs. The view
The frame itself and its shuttered sections, are veneered in walnut - a piece of Victoriana with a contemporary twist. Fabricated in London by the brilliant James Shearer of Other Fabrications: otherfabrications.com
Only one person can view the map at any one time and this exclusive experience is at odds with traditional Utopias that claim to be egalitarian and inclusive states. Lying at the heart of this piece is the outdated nature of Utopian fictions today.
In his 1932 essay ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,’ Walter Benjamin put forward the idea of an original artworks’ traditional ‘aura’. He argued that hand-made, original artworks are inextricably linked to the rituals and tradi
CONCLUSION There are many small utopian projects and communities around the world - from slow food centres, sustainability camps, community art projects, education foundations, and private follies. The balance between what is 'imagined' and wha
Blurred Lines Catalogue essay for Stephen Walter´s Nova Utopia Clarisse M. Monahan Each representation of a map is cartography of the mind. If the mind is nothing more than an impression built on something more solid than itself the
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