You Are Here but why?
A Festival of Mapping -
June 2005 South London

Invitation to participate in A Festival of Mapping

As part of the 56a Infoshop Free Skool (see below), which runs through the whole of June 2005, The Map Room (is open...) will be running a Festival of Map and Mapping. Intended to be as freeform as possible, a call hereby made to anyone who feels like they would like to contribute something to the Festival's events.

Here follows a list of the kind of things we are looking for:
¥ Submission to the The Map Room (is open...) collection of maps and walks. This include numerous species of hand-drawn maps, imagined or utopian maps, political charts, flowcharts and diagrams, altered maps, radical history maps, radical history walking guides etc. There are no guidelines to what we collect - eg. we have a scrappy bit of paper detailing the walk in Pensacola, Florida from a house to the beer dumpster but we also have a professionally produced Women's History map from Copenhagen, Denmark. Photocopies are fine. These will be displayed throughout the Festival at 56a Infoshop and then open-access archived there.
¥ Taking a slot of time in the programme to run an event. Things that spring to mind are: -Guiding Radical History Walks or giving Radical History talks on a particular locality.
- Mapping events: practical, radical, poetic, artistic, playful or events of exploration, adventure, discovery, detective work, uncovering, archeo(il)logical. The less described the better. It's up to you.
- Production during the Festival of maps, zines, badges, flyers, posters, grafitti and its application to the street. Workshops, free-for-all, social production.
- Theory and history of Maps and Mapping trying to avoid the dry in favour of the conversational and the engaging.
- Off the Map....have a go, whatcha got? Get in touch with your willfully obscure, deranged or over-rational ideas for events. The Festival of Mapping is not limited to the above.

Local but international:
The main bout of Festival activity will happen in London, with the physical Festival space being in Walworth, South London. However, events can happen anywhere in the world. Feel free to contact us for inclusion in the programme and website if you decide to put on an events as part of the Festival.

Preferred Guidelines:
- There isnt much we won't consider. Apart from self-promotion.
- Technological nonsense such as laptops, wifi, mobile phones, GPS etc will play no part in the Festival's events. Acceptible technology: Pens, paper, compass, sextant.
- Psychogeography is a tool in the class struggle.
- Encouraged are group events such as puzzles, labyrinth, mazes, voyages, days in and out, passion, revolutionary activity, potlatch. The Festival is about sharing.
- No money will change hands. All events are free and no-one is paid. Limited budgets might be made available to cover costs (such as photocopying) as we recognise that few people have any money.
- As above, so below.

Contact:
Chris c/o 56a Infoshop, 56 Crampton St London SE17 3AE U.K
 winterwind@hellokitty.com


NOTES:
* 56a Infoshop:
Is a long-established social centre in the Elephant and Castle, South London. Squatted from 1991 to 2003 but now operating under due conditions of tenancy, it functions as a bookshop, archive, meeting point and all round good example of what can be done. Entirely unfunded and volunteer-run, the Infoshop demands and creates the extension of autonomy into our daily individual and social life. To get a flavour of this space (and the prevailing wind behind the Map Festival). 56a Infoshop, 56 Crampton St London SE17 (Thurs 2-8, Frid 3-7, Sat 2-6pm) or check www.56a.org.uk

* Free Skool:
Is the second celebration of open learning to be held at 56a Infoshop. A month long programme of free classes will be held to extend skillsharing, education, collective autonomy, production and fulfilment of desire and more. Classes range from one-off sessions to weekly, bi-weekly courses. Teachers and coordinators sought. What can you teach?  freeschool56a@yahoo.co.uk

The Map Room (Is open...):
Is a loose collection of radical / different maps and walks from all over the known mapped world and beyond. It functions to build a collection of alternative guides to towns, cities and treasure islands that can be taken away for free by travellers. So far we have 30 handdone maps/walks from Richmond, Virginia via The Science Museum, London to Rovereto, Trento. The Festival of Mapping is a continuation of the The Map Room (is open...) seeking to substantially build up this collection.