AKU-2022-088

Institute for Digital Cartography, Zurich

Map of the Surveillance Economy (After Humboldt)

2021

Hand-drawn map, watercolor and iron gall ink on laid paper

180 × 240 cm

Acquisition

Purchased, 2022

Curator’s Note

The map was drawn by hand over fourteen months using Humboldt's physiognomic mapping conventions: data flows rendered as river systems with gauged volumes; platform recommendation algorithms as mountain ranges with measured elevations; individual user behavioral profiles as plots of arable land with yield notations. A legend in the lower left corner translates map units into personal data equivalents. The cartouche identifies the territory as 'The Interior of the Attention Economy, surveyed 2020–21, extent unknown.'