We Are Always Drawing Maps
More Rian Hughes, from Cult-ure:
You could write the most informative review possible of a new record, but being made of words, that review will still not come close to the experience of actually listening to the song… This is another type of format conversion, of media remapping – a description in one media of something from another. A description, however accurate, is always a step removed, a reinterpretation of the thing itself.
Strangely, though, the description itself, now possessed of existence in the real world, has its own unique qualities and, though nothing like the musical experience it describes, is still a thing in its own right.
Again, the map becomes territory.
And due to this, can be mapped itself – it would be possible to have an article describing the history of the music review – a review of reviews. Or a book that detailed the history of mapmaking – a map of maps.
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