The Cartographic Network: re-imagining university learning environments through the methodology of immersive cartography

This paper presents a discussion of the methodology, theory and key findings from an arts-based inquiry into academic learning environments entitled Cubic Reflections. The Cubic Reflections project involved a series of twelve site-specific cubes that were installed within the outdoor environments of a university campus in regional Australia. The cubes were designed to form a network of objects that reflected the aesthetic and ecological dimensions of the university’s learning environments. Students and staff were invited to both activate and build on this network by mapping and reflecting on their own movements within and between the twelve installations. This paper firstly describes the methodology of immersive cartography, drawing on a range of cartographic theories and practices from contemporary art, philosophy and anthropology. Following this, the concept of the ‘cartographic network’ is developed through the work of Deleuze and Guattari (1987, 1994) and Latour (2013) in relation to the Cubic Reflections project. The methodology of immersive cartography is then analysed at the level of lived experience in terms of environmental aesthetics, drawing on the aesthetics of engagement (Berleant 1992) and ambient poetics (Morton 2007). Lastly, several artifacts from the Cubic Reflections project are discussed in relation to the methodology of immersive cartography and the concept of the cartographic network.