From the "Anamnesis of the Visible" to "Cartographic Anamnesis"

Lyotard and the Postmodern Spaces of Representation

Abstract

The starting point of the article is that cartography can be used as an epistemological and relational device to visualize and rethink relations between human beings and the world in the contemporary era. To provide elements in support to this hypothesis, the contribution intends to read some Lyotardian notions, such as "anamnesis", "rewriting", "figural", "libidinal set-up", "interworld" in relation to the cartographic device and to issues related to postmodern spatial production in architecture and geography. The aim will be  to show how this pivotal concepts of Lyotard's aesthetics can be applied to think about a philosophy of technique and culture, which takes cartography as its object of study and investigation, particularly by soliciting the text Discourse, figure and by using the artistic and theoretical work of artists like Paul Klee and Gianfranco Baruchello, who are fundamental to lyotardian reflection.