Mapparti

The cartographic collection of the Museum of Geography comprises over 30,000 maps, mostly belonging to the series produced by the Istituto Geografico Militare (IGM). In March 2022, this collection was further enriched by the donation of over 3,000 1:25,000-scale topographic maps from the SERIE 25/V by Claudio Pavan. Established in the 1800s, IGM cartography is the official mapping of the Italian State, covering the entire national territory with variable scales, from 1:100,000 to 1:50,000 and 1:25,000. The 1:25,000-scale series, while fragmenting the national territory into over 3,500 map sheets, also embraces it in its entirety.

In 2023, thanks to the involvement of students in reviewing the Pavan donation, some maps were used to fill missing pieces in the collection housed at the Library of Geography. Meanwhile, surplus sheets were used to create a cartographic archive dedicated to educational and outreach activities, following the donor’s wishes. Thus, the MAPPArti project was born—an open dialogue between the museum’s cartographic heritage and the language of contemporary art. It serves as an opportunity to initiate a process of critical and imaginative reinterpretation of the map as a symbolic object of geographic knowledge. The artistic gaze, engaging with traditional cartographic representation, deconstructs its codes, reinterprets its symbols, and envisions new relationships, offering fresh perspectives on the three-dimensionality of IGM topographic maps. Launched in 2023, MAPPArti seeks to involve artists in the creation of works that will enrich the geographical imagination while adding to both the tangible and intangible heritage of the museum.

Artists Involved in the MAPPArti Project:

2025 – Stafano Comensoli e Nicolò Colciago

In progress…

2024 – Laura Pugno | Displacement

Winner of the MAPPArti call for proposals in 2024, Laura Pugno donated one of the works created for her exhibition Displacement to the Museum. In this exhibition, the “silence” of marine spaces in IGM cartography—typically left empty—is filled with tactile marks, tears, and lacerations caused by the friction of plastic waste the artist collects from beaches in her research. These fissures are then filled with iridescent sheets, which reveal themselves only to those who move around the map, offering new perspectives and ways of seeing.

2023 – Fabio Roncato | Beneath the lines

The MAPPArti project was inaugurated in 2023 by artist Fabio Roncato with his exhibition Beneath the Lines. His works, created by incorporating original IGM maps into plaster casts, explore the relationship between land and humans—fundamental to cartography—by transforming it into a sculptural gesture. Holding, gripping, and shaping a mass of clay becomes a way to reflect, through the creative act, the imprint left on the land by cartographic representations.

Beyond the map’s two-dimensional surface and its traces, Beneath the Lines reveals an ongoing excavation process that brings new meanings to light, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in the hidden depth beneath the lines—where experience and map, fingers and earth, come together.