Vernacular mapping: Site dance and embodied urban cartographies

Abstract

In this article I explore the potential of site-based dance and performance to influence and inform subjective, cartographic processes of connecting and situating oneself in urban locations. ‘Vernacular Mapping’ is explored as a process by which subjective urban experiences, trajectories and associations are mapped by individuals and retained and developed as cartographic tools through which we navigate and negotiate lived environments. The concept stems from critical geography and non-representational theory and proposes a progressive, contemporary approach in which individual routes, trajectories and vectors of mobility challenge the ‘representational certitude of cartography’ (Gerlach 2013:1). From this perspective I consider how encounters with site-based dance and performance might inform vernacular mapping processes and impact subjective-site relations.