The Compass of the Invisible Cities
Pictogram
ZHANG Zhihui 張之滙
Student of SM2105 Narrative Strategies and Aesthetics of Time-based Media
Abstract
Calvino’s Invisible Cities describes fifty-five non-existent cities while expressing the philosophical understanding of the city, society, and individual between the words and lines. Although these cities are fictitious and exaggerated, we can always feel that their characteristics or the metaphors used for them all seem familiar, as if we can find a correspondence in our lives one by one.
From outside to inside of the “compass” pictogram are the communication between Marco Polo and the emperor, visualized representation of a city, deeper foreshadowing from the text, and each city’s name/nickname. I want to retain Calvino’s pathos in the book so that when viewers see my pictogram, their imagination will be similar to when reading the original text.
