Nilüfer Neslihan Arslan explores mapping through the lenses of performance, cognition, and narrative. Taking the first episode of the TV series The Good Place (2016-2020) as a case study, she examines how imagined spaces in television series can serve as rich terrains for interpretation. Arslan’s video essay draws inspiration from Guy Debord’s and Asger Jorn’s ‘Naked City’practice and engages with the concepts of ‘psychogeography’ and ‘dérive’ from Situationist International.
Building on Tim Ingold’s view that maps arise from storytelling and embodied movement, she frames mapping as a performative and interpretive act shaped by narrative and the viewer.
An earlier version of this video essay was presented at SCMS 2024 (Boston).
Published in the Autumn Issue of NECSUS 2025.
