Mining Zone Poznań


2021

Map and performance

Generator Malta/Malta Festival

Maps from the Central Geological Database indicate a coal deposit in the northern part of Poznan, the fifth largest city in Poland. This surprised me. Why mark it on a map? After all, the coal cannot be extracted, because it lays under a densely inhabited area. Still, that’s the cold logic of a map: it firmly states a geological fact. The deposit lasts and the city may disappear one day. What’s more: the map shows the resources to investors and authorities but is not easily legible to residents, walking everyday over coal bed. Experts, like colonisers, draw straight lines on maps, disregarding the historical boundaries of districts or the nature of the place. What if one day they decide to extract the coal?