Poker-Drawings (2006-09)
The Poker-drawings were my first series of maps that were non-geographical, network-based and to some extent language-oriented.
Poker (the card game) has parallels to politics, finance and every area involving power-struggle or negotiations. It's a game about patterns of behaviour, communication and psychology, where each player has to confront both his own mind and the dynamics within a group of competetors.
There are five basic acts in poker; bet, raise, call, check, and fold. Together they create a quite complex language, where each “word” can change meaning according to the context they are implied within.
The Poker-Drawings translate the above-mentioned acts (and their consequences) into signs, directions and connections. A language created to describe the use of another language - that of the game.