Blank Topographies

Jonas N.T. Becker’s series Blank Topographies (2017–present) is currently on view at the Wexner Center for the Arts. This work is a brilliant illustration of the process of exformation, the removal of signifiers from an object to make it less informative.

Blank Topographies is a series of pre-formed topographic relief maps. Each map contains the most expensive mountain real estate in the year that it was created. The maps are painted to match the color of the display wall on which they are mounted, retaining only the relations of the topographic textures themselves. By removing the common markers of value (such as roads, location names, natural resources, and other cultural landmarks), the systems of symbolic value have been extracted from the landscape; thus, reducing the informative references of both the map and terrain.

Jonas N.T. Becker: A Hole is not a Void is organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts, curated by Head of Exhibitions Kelly Kivland and Curator Lucy I. Zimmerman.