Mapping the Vicinity, a multi-site project in Lier, Belgium


Thomas Broadbent, David First, Richard Humann, Norma Markley and Patricia Smith

curated by Thomas Broadbent and Patricia Smith

sponsored by Voorkamer Artist Initiative and the city of Lier


For this project, I recruited a self-described witch to do a psychic reading of the city, using a map and a pendulum. From the information she relayed, I drew Psychic Map of Lier. I had posters of the drawing printed and hung in public spaces throughout the city.


In my exhibition space, formerly a shop, I spent a week creating a room-sized version of the map from poured colored sand, using the traditional tools of Tibetan monks. At the end of the exhibition, the mayor and others gathered the sand of the map and took a small boat into the canals, tossing the sand into the water.