Leipzig Protest Atlas

»As soon as you apply geographical, economic or demographic detail to a map«, writes cartographer Philippe Rekacewicz, »you become political, because you necessarily make a choice«. Maps have always been instruments of spatial control. They compile knowledge about a territory that is usually clearly demarcated; they serve orientation and are the prerequisite for certain actions in this space. Against this background, we created an atlas of local protest movements in Leipzig.

From a spatial perspective, urban protest is a form of action that usually does not occupy a space of its own, but rather penetrates into the spaces of the others, the rulers, thus suspending all rules that otherwise apply there. Leipzig Protest Atlas documents the spatial and time-related dimensions of local protest actions. It marks symbolic protest locations on two overview maps, illustrates the connections between places and specific protest actions on small-scale maps, and visualizes the choreography of protest events.

The publication comprises 144 pages with 6 fold-out maps and texts by Dieter Rink and Kai Vöckler among others.

Mapping project and publication, together with Reinhard Krehl, niko.31 (Leipzig) and Jan Wenzel, Spector Books (Leipzig), Dec. 2004 to Jun. 2005