ERIC W. SANDERSON: THE MANNAHATTA PROJECT

July 9, 2009

At the Museum of the City of New York is an extraordinary constellation of maps and ideas.  In one exhibition titlted: MANNAHATTA/MANHATTAN is located 4 key maps of New York City's emergence: the British Headquarters' Map, the Viele Map, the Commisioner's Map and finally, Randal's extraordinary drawings of lot by lot in his series of maps of New York City, known as the Randall's Map.  A reproduction of the Costello Map of New Amsterdam is also on show at the exhibit.  What makes this collection of cartographic renderings significant is their symbiotic importance in the understanding of New York City's landscape, materiality and topography.  The projected future in each one of these maps is vastly different.   Cumulatively, these different interpretations of information produce layered conceptions of what New York is and can become.