Assembling: Mapping the Cosmos

‘Cosmos’ is defined as an ordered universe. A cosmos may be as minute as an atomic particle or as great as the universe itself and, by definition, everywhere in between as well. Chaos, the opposite of cosmos, is a disordered and primordial pre-condition out of which the cosmos itself is formed. 

Mapping is a fundamental mode of human understanding and enterprise. We find maps in sand painting, scratched and painted on walls, inscribed on velum and printed on paper. Mapping, often understood as ordering the territorial and the practical—star maps, oceanic and aerial navigation, boundaries and roads, gene maps—can be much, much more. What else? Invented islands? Impractical cosmographic imaging? Occult lines of force—lines of communication? We will experiment!

Mapping the Cosmos, the second CODEX Assembly/Exchange, consists of a carefully curated anthology of commissioned maps and cosmological meditations from thirty-three of the best and most imaginative artists and printers practicing today. The contributors, representing six nations on four continents, are chosen from among the 400+ artists and publishers who have exhibited at the previous five CODEX International Book Fairs. They have graciously donated their work in an effort to support the Codex Foundation’s mission to provide artists, bibliophiles, collectors, and curators access to an international and reliable marketplace for extraordinary books and ideas.