New Europeans

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Making Histories Playtime Feb22 2016, Amsterdam

Yanko Tsvetkov’s Atlas of Prejudice – Interview

Searching for inspiration in our goal of customising European symbolism (one of the four prospective projects that Domenique will offer up to the public vote on 26th), we discovered the work of London-based graphic designer Yanko Tsvetkov, producer of the Atlas of Prejudice.

The beauty of the Atlas of Prejudice comes from its ability to satisfy people’s twin fascinations with maps and putting people into boxes, and all the while poking fun at both. Playfully exposing the superficial boundaries people tend to impose on whole nations of people, the Atlas is an idea with almost limitless possibilities. We spoke to Tsvetkov, to find out his take on the ideas tackled in his work…

Firstly, I was interested in your expression of surprise at the success of your Atlas of Prejudice project? What do you think it is about the maps that has made them so popular?

My surprise was from a personal perspective because I never thought of myself as a map maker. I was almost annoyed that something I did just for fun completely overshadowed the rest of my work, which I considered more serious. But I have always understood why people are interested in prejudice. It’s something we’re all involved with. Maps in particular are very convenient devices for presenting national stereotypes. I don’t know of a better way to make sweeping generalization than slapping a simple label on a whole country.

When it comes to European symbols, you recently mentioned that Kraftwerk’s Trans-Europe Express provides a better inspiration for you than anything coming out of Brussels. Do you think there ought to be a greater grassroots engagement with trying to symbolically represent everyday life in Europe rather than rely on the elites to decide for us?

The problem is that the elites we speak about are almost exclusively political and politics is just one side of the coin. For an idea to work, it has to inspire society as a whole. It shouldn’t come from a committee. There must be different interpretations, some people may get inspired by music, others by literature, history, common currency, tourism, whatever. Everybody’s path is unique. Kraftwerk worked for me better than politics because I’m an artist and I’m driven by emotions. Politicians are (hopefully) driven by more pragmatic things. I’m still waiting for an influential artist to come out and scream “I’m an European!” and be perceived as cool. Kraftwerk did it with Trans-Europe Express but today their message is almost forgotten. We have become complacent because we’re too comfortable. Someone has to find a way to remind us what true discomfort means.

Yanko Tsvetkov

In your map “Tearing Europe Apart” I was struck first by the fact that it managed to convey a degree of truth, despite it being completely reductive. I was wondering if you thought there is an element of truth in prejudice?

If a truth could be depicted as a living organism, I would describe prejudices as tumors. They need truth to exist and they feed off it. Imagine there’s a headline in a newspaper saying “Five Syrian Men Raped 20 Christian Girls in Berlin.” The next day, a different newspaper quotes the same article but titles it “Syrian Men Rape Christian Girls.” It’s still technically true. But when Hans, who has never left his home village of Oberammergau, reads it in the local pub, he understands something different. It’s not a story about five men anymore. It doesn’t matter that it happened in Berlin. To Hans, who has never met anyone from Syria, all Syrian men are rapists of Christians. The next day there is a different title saying “A Local Gang Rapes 20 Muslim Girls.” Hans is clearly disgusted by the news but he stops short of declaring all Germans rapists. What prevents him from making a sweeping statement is not his national pride, it’s the fact that he knows from personal experience that not all Germans are rapists.

Following on from that question, is this “truth” that I’m hinting at related to the fact that you are not representing the world in one way but hinting at the infinite interpretations that can be made according to who is making the observation? If so, is this perhaps a more progressive model for mapping the world that should be adopted more broadly?

It’s very human to perceive truth as absolute but it’s quite ironic that by doing so, we are ultimately deceiving ourselves. In some cases this can be a terrifying realization but in others it can be extremely funny. That’s what my maps are about. By dismissing the existence of absolute truths people end up taking themselves less seriously. I don’t know if that can help eradicate prejudice but it certainly makes it less toxic.

Finally, have you had any particularly interesting or odd requests for new maps?

Few months ago I got a request to make the World According to Donald Trump. I thought it was odd at the time but not anymore. Most of the requests are for maps according to countries that I haven’t covered yet.