Core77

Christian Nold, like Chris Jordan, records our physical world and the way we live in a most unorthodox manner. He's an emotional cartographer. By collecting, visualizing, and mapping geographical data based on feelings, he produces a unique lens through which we can view the places we know with newness. In an experiment called Participatory Sensory Mapping, local subjects were deprived of vision and hearing and are sent out to a familiar location to "re-explore." The result yielded a flurry of sensory observations--the hidden treasures of locality--often lost in the blur of urban commotions we've all become so accustomed to. Nold also tells us of a fascinating device that uses Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) technology to measure emotional arousal in relation to geographical location, making it possible to pinpoint areas of high and low arousal. With this data Nold constructs intense emotional maps that relay specific stories about specific regions in a vernacular like no other, visually communicating social "destinations" in our public sphere.