I am thinking about the different layers of a map. How many there can be. What kind of information might be on each layer. How many layers might only contain point data. And I am very roughly imagining the different ways that point data can be visualised. And as I imagine different points and different spaces I am remembering words and ideas from a most special book, a book that I continue to visit over time, (which I believe is what the author requires).

In The Spell of the Sensuous, David Abram explores phenomenology’s time consciousness. He delves into Heidegger’s notion of the past, present and future - described by Heidegger as the ecstasies of time. Heidegger suspected that our “preconceptual sense of time [can] not be held apart from our preconceptual experience of space”. To enable us to take care of our place, Abram develops the idea of “curious dimensions” that are as much about space as they are about time. He signals to us that these dimesions are about the past, present and future - the past is beneath our feet, the future is in the horizon and the present is in the air we breath. He shouts in the book that not only are we not thinking about our future - we are also not thinking about our present moment - we are polluting the very air that we need to breath in order to function on a daily basis.

In developing layers of a map I think it is crucial to think about space and time - how you are representing it, but most importantly why you are seeking to represent it, and will you change the space because of the way you have repesented it. Abram’s book is not just about ecological philosophy, it is also about ecological action. He concludes that to protect the planet, and our daily existence, we need to think about the bioregional - we need to think about practices that are in our region. We need to think about creating sustaining communites. We need to think about rehabitating our space.

So imagine a visual picture that encourages you, or entices you into these “curious dimensions”.

Think about how these “curious dimensions” might be re-discovered and so rehabitated. Abram also asks that a language is developed that is of the local soundscape - I ask that this be visual as well as text and sound based.

I wonder how to develop these ideas. It might help to just develop books first - layers of paper - explore them in a book - make that book seethrough - and make it pull out in different ways.

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