Creases on a Map

An art-making motorbike journey to the intersecting creases on a map of Zhangpu County, 2020

In 2008 Staincliffe cycled across Shanghai to eight points of intersecting grid lines on a tourist map. At each predetermined location he attempted to use absolute beginner’s Chinese to ask a stranger to help take a photograph of himself. The resulting images were presented alongside audio of the forced chance encounters in broken Mandarin.

Revisiting this work on a larger scale, in summer 2020 the artist made two motorcycle trips to attempt to locate the intersections of the creases on the front and reverse of a paper map, the first trip to three of the points spanning Zhangpu County, the second to four located along the centre of Zhangpu County Town area. The chance structures imposed by the artist allows for these locations to be seen with fresh eyes, to be examined where they may normally have been overlooked.

The resulting composition in the polyptych video work 'Three Zhangpu Landscapes' feature multiple views in an attempt to capture the destinations, yet only serve to highlight the discrepancy between a physical location and a representation of it. And in 'Four Zhangpu Town Conversations' the artist fails in his task of forcing chance encounters with local people, only to be faced with the mundaneness of each site.

Just like in any aspect of life, the attention we give to things gives those things significance. Ruminate on the negative and see the suffering compound, focus on a task or a moment and get more from it. Creases on a Map was an exercise in focusing attention on points on the map which would usually be overlooked; not tourist destinations or local hubs, but sites so normal that they could blur into countless others but for their alignment with the creases on a paper map.