Shilpa Gupta’s ‘Map Tracings’ are outline maps made up of metal tubing, twisted to form three-dimensional linear sculptures. They render the familiar outlines of nation-states into peculiar forms, using shadow and illusion across architectural space to produce an oscillation between recognition and perplexity. Started in 2012 with the India Map, the work is adapted to each exhibition site, according to the country in which it is shown. Depending on the viewers’ movements and their position in the space, the well-known shape becomes a strange line that literally twists our vision and reminds us that the nation is an artificial construct, and what it maps first and foremost is the way it imagines itself.

Map Tracing #5 - FR, 2017
Copper wire

A nation is an artificial construct, and what it maps first and foremost is the way it imagines itself. The reality along a border ultimately has little to do with the outlines of the maps imposed by states. 'Map Tracing' has been presented in Belgium, Germany and France, each time taking on the outline of each country. 'Map Tracing' disrupts the viewer's contemplation of an image that is nevertheless familiar.
- Nada Raza