Counter-maps

In the 17th century, the Bolivian mining town of Potosí was one of the richest cities in the world and thus also a central hub of a global economic and trade system, which simultaneously provides a model for current processes of globalization. In the "Cerro Rico", silver and other metals were mined, which circulated worldwide: they financed the European conflicts of the House of Habsburg and repaid the debts that the Spanish crown had incurred in Europe, and enabled the purchase of slaves in Africa. Ultimately, the abundance of wealth in Potosí was based on the "Mita," a slave-like labor obligation imposed on the indigenous population under inhumane conditions. While mining subjected thousands of miners to deadly working conditions, Alexander von Humboldt wrote that there might not be a country in the whole world where one could live more pleasantly and calmly than in the Spanish colony. However, how would Alexander von Humboldt have expressed himself if he had been in Potosí during his American adventure?

In one of his first letters from America (dated July 16, 1799), Alexander von Humboldt writes to his brother Wilhelm: "Like fools, we have been running around so far; in these three days we cannot determine anything, as we are always discarding one subject to take up another. Bonpland assures that he will go mad if the wonders do not cease soon" (Ette 2009, p. 169). As the Humboldt researcher Ottmar Ette writes in his book Alexander von Humboldt and Globalization, the semantics of euphoria pervade the entire letter, as Alexander von Humboldt had finally reached the goal of his great dream: he had left the "Old World" and was just "at the beginning of his American adventure and precisely that new discourse about the New World, which he would develop in the following decades and shape in increasingly complex ways" (ibid, p. 170).

With the opening of the Humboldt Forum in September 2020, a "unique place of experience, learning, and encounter in the heart of Berlin" is being created, as stated on the forum's homepage. The Humboldt Forum will house parts of the Central and Regional Library, the scientific collections of the adjacent Humboldt University, as well as non-European art objects. These colonial objects are returning to the historical site where the so-called Cabinet of Curiosities of the Hohenzollern was located from the 17th century onwards. However, there is a critical question of what "productive" relationships are being re-imagined here and for whom? Alexander von Humboldt, who set off for Latin America to "investigate the phenomena of things in their general context," embodies a cultural hegemony effort that simultaneously symbolizes violence. After all, the Enlightenment project intended to abolish all traditions that did not correspond to modernity, thus ignoring its peripheries. Modernity aimed to develop a universal reason that sought to harmonize the various social relationships. Everything else that found no place in this rationality was ultimately excluded as not part of the civilized subject. In his Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes, Humboldt not only gave voice to the Western tradition of knowledge but also to the representatives of the Creole elites, mestizo authors, and indigenous cultures. However, his research subjects remained embedded in a consistently asymmetrical dialogue.

For his Physical Atlas (First Volume: 1845), Humboldt produced numerous measurements and data claiming to accurately depict reality. However, neither the creation of maps nor their use can be considered neutral. In the hands of capitalism, maps are instrumentalized in various ways: to justify control over public spaces, to legitimize borders, and to exploit natural resources. Thus, maps are powerful tools that not only represent reality by recording symbolic orders and hierarchies but also simultaneously bring about certain realities. Moreover, we live in a fully mapped era, where all our gestures and travel routes are recorded, whether in traffic on the road, in the exchange of messages and documents over the internet, or in crossing physical or symbolic borders. A legitimate question, therefore, is whether it makes sense to produce new maps at all today? The answer lies in the nature of the information recorded, which should in turn be able to reveal the underlying mechanisms of the map itself. Consequently, counter-designs should change common views and ideas about social spaces to produce new discussions and should be understood as contributions that break with the colonial tradition and generate new imaginations.