an absence on a map is an invitation to speculate.

in contemporary terms, the first ordnance survey act of map-making in ireland in the 1830s  – through an act of government no less –  was an action aimed at more concretely monetising the discourse on irish land. the act of government (1820s?) (edit see i.) to update irish land valuations for land taxation purposes sent out surveyors as boots on the ground across the commons, townlands, parishes, counties and provinces of ireland,  instructed essentially to act as speculators, de facto future traders, formatting land through the synced instrumentation and techniques of mapping|monetising – bringing into play the tools of boundaries, borders, relations of contract rather than kinship, corporation rather than association. these negotiations are of course now impossible to conceive of without that overarching representation dramatised within friel’s work translations, so perhaps to mix it up a bit and put a crack in the narrative, we could attempt to see distorted refractions in the seemingly incomprehensible song from John Adams’ opera Nixon in China…

The discussion turns to China’s future.

Mao: Founders come first, then profiteers.

i. : “in 1824, a house of commons committee recommended a townland survey of Ireland with maps at the scale of 6″, to facilitate a uniform valuation for local taxation. … The survey was directed by colonel thomas colby… civil assistants were recruited to help with sketching, drawing and engraving of maps, and eventually, in the 1830’s, the writing of the memoirs” (ordnance survey memoirs of ireland, volume two, parishes of county antrim (i), 1838-9, ballymartin, ballyrobert, ballywalter, carnmoney, mallusk, pub the institute of irish studies, belfast & the royal irish academy, dublin, 1990)