Corporate Bohemia

This is a project that came as a result from my research into cartography as a medium for both art and propaganda for my Temporary Expert class.

Inspired by all that, I wanted to make a map that has two layers of meaning: one apparent that is mundane and sterile, and another that is hidden and “sinister.”

Propaganda, I feel, has to be about a cause, and the only cause that I am remotely passionate against is the corporate system.

Naturally, I opted to make an interactive map that a fictional corporation has commissioned and placed in one of its floors so that new employees can interactively get familiar with their new habitat.

The user is instructed to click on and only on the colored icons. Upon doing that, labels about the different departments in the floor are displayed.

To me, the language of propaganda is the language of slogans. Its most natural medium is the medium of graphic posters.

When the user “defies” the obvious instructions by clicking on other, non-highlighted elements on the map, including some of the desks, the conference room’s screen, and the rest rooms, posters are displayed with anti-corporate messages.

I opted to have an eerie piano music piece to accompany the map, and also make the animation of the pieces floaty and slow to communicate a mood of unease.