If you haven't visited Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District recently, things are bustling in the area. Elizabeth Ferrer, Director of Contemporary Art at BRIC and Deborah Schwartz, President of the Brooklyn Historical Society have teamed up to co-present "Mapping Brooklyn." This exhibition leads viewers on a tour through Brooklyn's history and offers chance for re-orientation of personal perspectives on the borough.
Historic maps are juxtaposed with contemporary artists' works, which incorporate cartography, exploration and maps in their art-making processes. One standout in this exhibition is Jennifer Maravillas' "71 Square Miles" a massive collage of paper litter collected from her extensive walks throughout Brooklyn. Going beyond geographical mapping, Patricia Smith's "Upper Brooklyn Recovered Memory Tureen" presents a map of the mind, with designations of thoughts meticulously drawn and detailed. 
We have all seen them: free standing boulders in the oddest of places, Katerina Jerinic informs us that they are left behind by glaciers and invites visitors on a tour of these “Erratic Monuments”. And be sure not to miss BRIC’s Project Room with data transformed into colorful and impactful maps. A vintage road map from the World’s Fair adds a nice counterpoint to Justin Blinder's interactive digital installation, "Vacated," which processes public data to present a stunning view of the changes from the ground up in Brooklyn neighborhoods. Some of the other impressive map based works in the show include projects by: Aaron Beebe, Daniel Bejar, Francisca Benitez, Gail Biederman, Justin Blinder, Christine Gedeon, Katarina Jerinic, Joyce Kozloff, Laura Kurgan, Peter Lapsley, Jennifer Maravillas, Simonetta Moro, Bundith Phunsombatlert, Jan Rothuizen, Patricia Smith, Nick Vaughan & Jake Margolin, and Sarah Williams. On view through May 3rd at BRIC House (647 Fulton) and Brooklyn Historical Society (128 Pierrepont Street).
—K. Vance
