Walking a Line: GPS and Satellite Technologies as Narratives

Ruth Scheuing

Global Positioning System (GPS) and satellite images of the earth are now widely available. Satellite images deliver a global view of the world to our living rooms via satellites and the WWW, while handheld GPS devices allow us to record various journeys as ‘tracks’ and drawings. These linear narratives record my body moving through space by walking, biking, driving, kayaking, etc., and create patterns of my daily activities.

As an artist I am interested in these new technologies and in blurring lines between a global perspective and domestic space. I look at GPS/satellite technologies and their histories as military application and spy technologies and explore potentials for fictional journeys and ordinary daily activities. I also draw on 'walking' as a conceptual and meditative practice by artists such as Richard Long and Hamish Fulton. In addition textiles and traveling are connected through global trade and journeys to the Silk Road and explorations of Canada's north.

This research connects to my earlier work with Jacquard weaving, which draws inspiration from historical floral patterns, technology, computers, Ada Lovelace and Cyborgs. Recent Jacquard weavings combine floral designs with travel via satellite images to remote places, mountains, lakes and glaciers, and views of 'natural' events, such as fires, cyclones and ice breaking up in the North Sea.

 

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