Secret Maps

Secret Maps will explore the relationship between mapping and secrecy in a global context between the 9th and 21st centuries. It is an exhibition about how and why, contrary to their modern appreciation as things which openly provide knowledge of the world, maps have been utilised by governments, armies, businesses, organisations, communities and individuals in the withholding of all kinds of spatial knowledge.   The exhibition will explore what types of spatial information (from hidden treasure to personal data) have been subject to attempts at secrecy. It will consider whether historical control of spatial information has influenced how the world is perceived, and whether, in an age wh…