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Finding Our Place In The World

It seems like we’re obsessed with maps. GPS-enabled phones, navigation systems in cars, a Garmin store on Michigan Avenue, all point to our desire to see where we are, where we’re going, and how to get there.

Those three questions have deeper and more existential answers than just “here” and “there,” and directions from point A to B. A new exhibit at The Field Museum explores these layers of meaning. Even the name - “Maps: Finding Our Place In The World” - implies a deeper purpose. This exhibit resonated with me. The red X and tag line “you are here” of TLT’s logo are a familiar reference to maps, but they’re also representative of something more meaningful. X marks the spot means there’s treasure afoot. “You are here” reminds us to be present, to be “here”.

The curators for “Maps…” wanted to communicate this complexity, so instead of being organized chronologically, the maps are organized into seven categories:

• Finding Our Way: See a 13th-century map that guided pilgrims on an imagined spiritual journey to the Holy Land, and an early photo map with turn by turn pictures.
• Mapping The World: This room contains a medieval European map of the world with Jerusalem as the center and Captain Cook’s chronometer.
• Mapping Places: Explore a gorgeous woodblock print of Venice, maps molded into pottery, and the oldest identifiable city plan from around 1500 BCE.
• Mapping History: Maps of historical significance, including a map of early America with notes by King George III, and a map of Tenochtitlan that Cortes sent back to Spain.
• Visualizing Nature and Society: Did you know that Darwin’s theory of evolution began from a map? Or that Da Vinci created the first map to use color to show changes in a landscape’s elevation (think brown for mountains, green for flatlands)?
• Mapping Imaginary Worlds: Tolkein, Baum and other authors actually created maps of the worlds they envisioned, and they’re on display.



• 7. Living With Maps: The last room focuses on how maps have become an integral part of our everyday lives.

Maps have been loaned from all over the world, some in this country for the first time. A 7-foot atlas that greets you as you enter has only been in the U.S. twice, and the last time was at the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition, which is where the Field Museum began!

The exhibit opens Friday, November 2 and runs through January 27, 2008.

Tickets: $19, $14 seniors and students, $9 kids 4 - 11, includes admission to the museum

The Field Museum
1400 S Lake Shore Dr
(312)922-9410, (866)343-5303
Hours: Daily 9am to 5pm

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