Map of Love is a multiplatform project that brings to life the map drawn by Madeleine de Scudéry in 1654. Some of the towns and villages on the map are activated through video art and dance films to explore certain areas such as "The River of Inclination", "The Lake of Indifference", "The Sea of Enmity", "Tenderness", etc, in the vast land of Tendre. It is a collaborative project, where several choreographers, artists, actors, dancers, cinematographers, and musicians have been involved. It expands notions of creative specificity utilizing a multiplicity of expressive mediums in order to create various paths of communication beyond single-channel and mono-message.

This project was commissioned by SPACE Gallery to be part of their exhibition during the 2014 Pittsburgh Biennial, which ran from September to November of that year. The MAP OF LOVE was launched during opening night on September 26th, and continued to be in-development through the time of the exhibition. Several performances where scheduled during this time, and the project has continued to be in development since.

Why love? I came across Madeleine de Scudéry’s Carte du Tendre and I was fascinated both by her as a character as by the idea of representing such a complex topic using cartography. After all, love is a major drive in humans’ lives. It is the inspiration behind much of literature, music, visual art… it drives our lives and often times gives meaning to our short stay on the planet.

This is my attempt at exploring affection from an aesthetic standpoint, and is really just a good excuse to go deeper into the longings, pleasures and disappointments that result from one of the most complex of human emotions, love.

There is a total of 16 activated sites/videos on the map. The ultimate goal is to edit one medium length single-channel piece using excerpts from all sixteen videos, once they are all complete.

CREDITS

The map was created by Madeleine de Scudéry in 1654, as part of her Saturday salon. She later included it in her novel Clelie.

Most of the information about the map and Madeleine's life was collected from the book: The Precious Lies of Madeleine de Scudéry, Volume 3,

by Eleanor Knowles Dugan.

Music playing on the home page: Celephaïs by Hector Moro. www.moromusik.com

All photography by Carolina Loyola-Garcia, unless otherwise noted

Madeleine de Scudéry