Tuesday, October 6, 2015

#1 The Labyrinth

                                           The Labyrynth, Landeskrankenshaus



On Google maps you have the possibility to view the labryinth in two-dimensional form, as a satellite image.

satellite image, Google maps- labyrinth seen from above


 When I went to see it for the first time, my impression of it completely changed:
  • The perspective became different  because it wasn't anymore a flat representation of a labyrinth.
  •  I could expierience it on my own through using my senses and actually walking through it. 
  • Walking through it made me also think about it. I was paying attention to how it was constructed and how it organized the space.
  • I think that it can be considered a ground truthing because I was inspecting this terrain, making observations, and collecting informations about it.
  •  It was also different from most of the labiryths I saw. It was completely flat and the paths were separated by grass, while the other labirynths I saw had high walls, usually made from bushes. From my path I could see the destination, which was the middle. On other labirynths I never saw the destantion until I reached it. It was different from what I expected.   
This labyrinth was an interesting composition. It was a quite a long path organized or compressed into a small amount of space. The destination was the middle which could constantly be seen from every part of the labirynth. When I was walking through it, I had an impression that I was very close to the middle but the path was constantly leading me away from it. Only after a while I was able to reach the destination. It is made of stone and grass and there is a stone slab next to it with "the way of truth" written on it.

Labyrinth could be seen as a map because it organizes space, includes a specific path and the destination. Maps usually help you to find destination and lead you to it, just like this labyrinth does. They describe and represent the terrain. Labyrinth makes you think about space and how it is organized. It can tell you how some things have to be placed within a small amount of space and how the space is going to be used. It can be related, for example, to the population or buildings that often also have to fit into a certain or limited  amount of space.

The geographical imagination is how we think and how we structure our knowledge of space. We make up maps in our minds with characteristic features that we remember very well. We apply them to find our final destination. These mind maps are never exactly accurate but they help us find desired place and they help us find ourselves within our world. This imagination gives us also an impression of a place.

Labyrinth represents the complexity of human minds and imaginations. It leads us through a certain path to the destination. We also use geographical imagination to find a specific place . Through this imagination, we also organize the space. We make up maps in our heads that we will be able to use then all the time. We pay attention to the easily recognized or remembered features and use them to describe the place or find the destination. The labyrinth is also used to represent knowledge. We use geographical imagination to organize our knowledge of world and the way we perceive it.




part of the labyrinth

labyrinth, Landeskrankenhaus