26 june 2023, Wouter van den Eijkel
The studio of... Carlijn Kingma
Carlijn Kingma calls herself a ‘cartographer of society’. Her maps show neither roads, shipping routes nor galaxies, but detailed 'metaphorical system analyses' that trace paths through history, contemplate the present and explore possible routes to a sustainable and inclusive future. For The Waterworks of Money, the project for which she collaborated with two financial journalists, she uses water metaphors – slush funds, liquidity, etc. – to provide insight into our complex financial system.
Kingma's work is in the spotlight and can currently be seen at three locations: Galerie Untitled in Rotterdam (until September 29), Kunstmusuem The Hague (until September 10) and the Architecture Biennial in Venice (until October 26).
Where is your studio and what does it look like?
My studio is in my living room in Welsum on the banks of the river IJssel. Actually, my studio – or drawing corner – is quite well organised, with a heavy, old-fashioned steel drafting table, a case of pens and stacks of books. When I’m researching something, I always have sketches hanging on the wall.
What makes a good studio for you? I can imagine that natural light is essential.
Yes, lots of light. And peace and quiet. That means that when I’m drawing, I always withdraw from the big city for several months, away from distractions and away from friends. I have done that in Welsum for the past eight months.
Carlijn in her studio, photo by Sanne Donders
You call yourself cartographer and refer to your drawings as maps. But they are not traditional maps. What kind of maps are they and why do we need them?
The world around us is becoming increasingly complex. We are constantly confronted by a continuous stream of news, images and opinions and have to navigate between countless, often invisible, structures, roads and laws. That is why we need other maps to navigate today. Until the twentieth century, social vistas were regularly depicted, often with architecture as an expression of ideals, but in recent decades, their production seems to have come to a standstill. With my work, Cartography of Thought Worlds, I try to step into this representational vacuum in order to restore inspiring vistas through insight, view and wonder. Unlike many of history's touting techno-utopian or political futures, my maps are contemplative, nuanced and polyphonic. The metaphorical system analyses follow paths from history, consider the present and extrapolate it to possible future routes. Architectural elements become metaphors and provide direction, space and meaning to the fictional worlds. By wandering through the socio-political structures, we can pause and reflect on about how we have organised our society and perhaps discover new routes to a sustainable and inclusive future.
How did you come up with the idea for the maps?
For as long as I can remember, I have been making image maps to understand the world around me. I started doing this as a young child in the conservatory of my parents' house and was still doing it when I started studying architecture. But architecture increasingly began to play the role of a language. It is an enormously powerful visual language that can be used to explore complex issues in a three-dimensional way.
Carlijn Kingma, The Waterworks of Money, 2023, Gallery Untitled
You regularly work with journalists and historians such as Rutger Bregman of De Correspondent and Thomas Bollen and Martijn van der Linden of Follow the Money. Why and what does such a collaboration entail?
Every project and every collaboration is different. In the case of Rutger Bregman and De Correspondent, I contacted Rutger to ask him to make a map with me because we seemed to have many shared interests. At the time, he was writing Humankind: a Hopeful History and I was developing a map alongside it. My studio was the editorial office of De Correspondent for two years.
In the second case, it began with a research topic. I wanted to map out the monetary system and was looking for partners. Before long, I found Martijn and Thomas and we started researching together. Thomas then also decided to write a book alongside it. We have been working together full-time on this subject for 2½ years now.
The exhibition at Untitled includes The Waterworks of Money, the work you made in collaboration with Bollen and Van der Linden. How did you come up with the subject of money and why do you use water metaphors?
I noticed in my other research that a lot comes down to money. Whether you can improve education or health care, set up a local committee or neighbourhood project, in the end it often boils down to financing. So, I knew that sooner or later, I would have to address this underlying theme. How is it actually determined who receives funding and who does not? And does it really work that way?
Water metaphors are an obvious choice since they are completely embedded in the Dutch language when talking about money: to spend money like water, cash flows, frozen account, evaporation of fortunes, funnelling away money, liquidity, trickle-down economy, swimming in money, financial drought, and so on.
Carlijn Kingma, The Fantastic Storehouse of Financial Folly, 2023, Gallery Untitled
The question I think everyone who sees your work wonders how long you work on a map, including research and preliminary studies.
Two-and-a-half years, which means 2,300 hours of drawing (compressed into five months).
In addition to the gallery exhibition, your work is currently also on display at Kunstmuseum Den Haag and the Architecture Biennial in Italy: a museum exhibition and an architecture event. Where would you place your work?
I consider my work to be cartography and at the intersection of all these disciplines. The work is also always the result of intensive collaboration between writers, researchers, journalists and experts, with architecture as the common language.
Carlijn Kingma, The Valley of Debt-free Money, 2023, Gallery Untitled
If time and money were not an object, which subject would you like to elaborate on a map?
There’s always time and never money at the start of a project. You start with research and look for ways to make your project a reality, not only in terms of money, but also collaboration, publishing, editor-in-chief, etc. I imagine that the next subject is healthcare.
What are you currently working on?
We will continue to work on the money project for a while. We have just translated the animations through the map into English and hope to take the debate about a fairer money system to an international level in the near future. Over the past few months, we have been talking to various parties about developing transition maps. Last week, for example, we attended a lecture and expert session at Rabobank, Triodos Bank and the Ministry of Finance. In September, we are organising a conference in The Hague on the future of money, where we will be providing feedback on our findings.
Carlijn Kingma, The Republic of a Thousand Coins, 2023, Gallery Untitled
