Atlas of Movements: #59 - #63

Christoph Fink's 'Atlas of Movements' is a 3 volume series of cartographic studies that inventory what Fink calls his 'source materials,' the materials that construct his drawings, sculptures and sound pieces.

By foot, bicycle, car, train, and plane, Fink moves from place to place, taking notes every step of the way. His paper landscapes or overlay of sketches, carbon-copy drawings, photographs, sound recordings, paper cutouts, maps, and statistical notations presented in different shapes, sizes, and colors are culled from hundreds of notes scrawled in a small carbon notebook. After sorting through and organizing his array of data, Fink translates these notes into a visual language, arranging the results into a kind of index or chorograph, a practice that combines surveying, geometry, and the making of 'graphic images' (mimetic and conventional signs, color coding, and calligraphy) with the production of numerical and alphabetic inscriptions and texts.

At first glance, the presentation of material seems scientific, almost quantifiable, dry, and a tad overwhelming. The number of annotated and translated notes, as well as Fink's intricate legend, point to a clear intent to communicate, revealing a prosaic and sometimes humorous narrative that's less about a place than about the interval stages of moving from place to place. For example, Fink's "chronometered" notes, as he calls them, revel in the mundane, his shorthand descriptions ranging from accounts of the weather to observations about train schedules to descriptions of physical exertion and the finding of sustenance.