Geopolitics and Maps

Alexander Dugin wrote that geopolitics has a special place among modern sciences. Geopolitical concepts became major elements of modern politics long ago. They are built on general principles that make it easy to analyze the situation of each particular country and region. Geopolitics in its current form is undoubtedly a secular science. But perhaps, among all modern sciences, it maintains the greatest connection with tradition and traditional science. Modern geopolitics is the product of freedom from religious control in the traditional science of sacred geography. It is often classified as "pseudo-science." Because its secularization is not as perfect and irreversible, as in the case of chemistry or physics, the connection with sacred geography is still quite visible: geopolitics is in an intermediate place between the traditional science of sacred geography and modern geography .

Modern geographers are aware that religion can be a starting point for building an ethnic and national identity, and religious ideology and practice have a great influence on location. Religious belief may influence how the entire public space is used. Geographers find that many modern religious spaces deviate from the traditional official spaces of places of worship. One of the new areas of research on the connection between geography and religion examines the rise of religious fundamentalism. Immigration processes have also created landscape changes, as there are many immigrant communities defined by religion. Studies in this field analyze the changes in the fundamentalist population in the Western world and its impact on the design of space. Public places not defined by religion in the recent past, including the city, the neighborhood, the street, the schools, and many domestic spaces, and at the same time wide areasin the media and the economy, have become everyday compounds that combine religious practice in an informal manner.

Maps are a powerful means of transmitting messages using cultural symbols. Many ancient maps represented a visual essence of knowledge combined with the worldview of their creators. Although modern scientific mapping uses sophisticated measurement methods, it is still subject to the imperative of aesthetic design. Accurate maps also represent an interpretive and tendentious point of view.

The anthropomorphic [anthropogenic, humanized] maps offer a reflection of the personal and collective identity of the human body. These maps were created in a protracted procreation process. The landscape is not exactly the character of man. A complex transformation process is required to make geography a human portrait. But this is possible because there is constant dialogue between man and landscape, as a process of refined dynamic and image in action.

Early anthropogenic maps are the star maps identified with the entire universe, and the world maps of early Christianity. Some of them gradually developed into anthropogenic maps of countries and continents. Atlases of these maps have been very successful. Political cartoons are sometimes portrayed as humanized maps.

.The Western Wall in Jerusalem is the holiest place for Jews
.On the upper left is Omar Mosque  and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

.The Kaaba structure in Mecca
.Muslims around the world turn to it during their prayers

Maps Legend

The abstract and schematic representation of reality is done in maps using alphabets of symbols, lines, spots, colors, shading and more. The design of the maps indicates the tension between form, content and knowledge.

One of the leading cartographers of our generation says: "In order to capture the nature of the landscape, we have to merge the components in a graphic way so that we receive an iconic quality, a unique sense of place and character. The essence of the personality. "

Another senior cartographer says: "A good topographical map should look like a national monument. It must be a cartographic reflection of the face of the earth that presents the relief, the covering and the dissolution of all the details of the landscape, in a way that emphasizes its unique landscape."

The great precision and the sophisticated graphic means, combined with the development of art and visual communication, led to the fact that every serious decision maker today draw a map highlighting the elements he is interested in, and does so very convincingly.

Modern cartography, having achieved full accuracy of surface description, can assume that the average map reader already easily identifies the area described. It can use this assumption as a springboard for an original presentation of the surface to illustrate certain facts.

One of the most common examples is the creation of maps that emphasize the vertical dimension of the landscape beyond its relative proportions in reality. The accumulated statistical information enables maps in which the desired geographic unit, for example countries, is emphasized, according to the relative size of a given data. For example, in a map that describes the size of the world's population, China and India will appear to be larger than their real size. A third style, mainly tourist maps, is turning the terrain into a background on which images of attractions are featured.

Legend symbols of the basic elements in the modern city

World map with self-filling legend

IMAGO MUNDI - maps as World Picture

The traditional name of the map is: ''World Picture''. Its origins is in Latin - IMAGO MUNDI, and perhaps more than anything else, it is the complex essence of cartography. It encapsulates both its representational character and its artistic, pictorial aspect.

Although modern scientific mapping is aided by sophisticated measurement methods and has removed many of the decorative elements from the map, it is still subject to the imperative of aesthetic design. Beyond that, scientific mapping can not fail to present reality selectively, by the necessity of using symbols and emphasizing certain data. Accurate maps represent an interpretive and tendentious perspective.

From first glance it can be noticed that art and science have existed side by side throughout the history of map production. The maps linked the world of religious symbols and folklore to the encyclopedic scientific knowledge of geography, geometry, and cosmography. The link between the artistic and the scientific aspects on the map is easy to discover, by the artistic decorations that surrounded every map until recently. Much of the maps area was dedicated to them.

The decorations expressed the connection between cultural style and geographic objectivity, during a certain era. Maps, like works of art, are powerful means of transmitting messages through cultural symbols. Many ancient maps represented a visual summary of their creators' knowledge and worldview. These maps have layers and meanings which are of works of art in every respect.

The golden age of the maps as works of art, and of the anthropomorphic maps in particular, was the Middle Ages in Europe. The Middle Ages are the thousand years between the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and the age of discoveries which started in the 15th century. During this long period, people were confined to cities, castles and monasteries. The roads were destroyed, and the intercities traffic was greatly reduced. Science became concentrated in the hands of the Church, which sought to shape a worldview in the spirit of faith. For about 1000 years, the maps became a reflection of the Christian world view, with the distinct characteristics of sacred geometry: Jerusalem was at the center, the world was round, and accurately divided into three continents, populated by saints or monsters.

The collaboration between cartographers and artists became, surprisingly, increasingly intense in the age of discovery, which emphasized the accuracy of mapping. It was the result of introducting of new discoveries, such as new species, as graphic elements, and filling white areas, not mapped yet, with various illustrations, especially of ships and monsters. The ''accurate maps'' included also eye catching illustrations of interesting landscape details, especially of fortified cities. Co-existence was established between geographers, aspiring accuracy and reliability, to cartographers,  experienced in styles of art and cultural moods  of their era.

Combination of  map and art on the world map of Patolami,
the most popular map until the age of discoveries.

Map of the Holy Land, 16th century,
with illustrations of the human landscape.

Cognitive Maps

Modern men carry themselves to their goals through a central image they organize in the mind, for the purpose of achieving goals step by step.

A cognitive map at the heart of the human spirit may provide creative directions of thought, in a random and unplanned fashion. The cognitive maps serve the construction and accumulation of spatial knowledge, enabling images to be visualized in order to reduce cognitive load, and improve memory and learning of information.

This type of spatial thinking can also be used as a tool for non-spatial tasks, when people who perform non-spatial memory-related tasks use spatial knowledge to help process the task.

The cognitive map is a spatial representation of the outside world information, that is preserved in the consciousness until an objective revelation of the requested knowledge is created.

Cognitive mapping is a mental mapping of information that is defined in the search for knowledge. Thus, In most cases, the cognitive map exists independently of the psychoanalytic map. Cognitive maps exist in various fields such as psychology, education, archeology, planning, geography, cartography, architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, management and history. As a result, many mental maps in these areas are often referred to by different names, such as: cognitive maps, mental maps, mind maps, scripts, schemas, and reference frames.

One of the applications of the cognitive map is carried out by urban theorists who ask the city dwellers to draw from their memory the city or place where they live. This tool allows the theorist to get an idea of which parts of the city or residence are more significant. This, in turn, throw light on the overwhelming idea of how to properly perform urban planning.

Different population groups need different presentations of reality, in the form of maps that reinforce personal tendencies. Children do not know much beyond the limited world of their lives, and they will draw the map in a way that greatly increases the objects they know, such as home, school, and the connecting way. Advertisers draw maps of the ways to shelves of products they market, in a way that puts them as a priority against others. In fact, anyone who aspires to change his world will draw a map in his imagination that is different from reality.

 Cognitive map is an illustration that combines the physical and mental environment

Map of Tokyo metro lines in cognitive and artistic style

Trip Maps

If life is art, the trip is a masterpiece. The pre-planning is an important component of the trip, which makes us enjoy it long before we started it. During the planning process, we are actually one step in the journey, with all that it means for the daily routine. The real journey is a journey to the imaginary land, because imagination is always a journey.

We often lack a guiding principle when planning a trip. Imagination takes us somewhere else, without really knowing what we want. The future traveler finds himself drifting, but he is dissatisfied with this escaping imagination. He needs a map. Each trip must include an accurate map, with a drawn path, stations, and schedules. The means of transportation, the attractions and the places of rest must all be included in the invitation to the trip, and they must also be displayed graphically.

The map of the trip is regularly carried on the garment during the trip, as the most loyal companion. The traveler takes it out of his pocket at every opportunity, not to know his location, but to ascertain whether the journey in reality matches the journey to the imaginary land he had planned in advance. Are the places suitable for what he thought about them, and whether he can produce the right inspiration. The inner self gets a gentle push, which pulls out of balance, and causes a healthy daydreaming movement. If the route is chosen carefully, it evokes a well defined poetic dream. The map of the trip, followed by other maps and dry data, are tools in pursuit of a seductive dream. We strive to realize our dreams during the trip, and it is a key opportunity in life to reach the threshold of their realization. 

This is why the meaning of the journey is very different for different travelers who make the same route. They want to find something new in what others seem to think as ordinary. They load, sometimes too much, their expectations of the trip, and there is no power in the world that might prevent them from being sucked into it. This is also because the actual trip is in unfamiliar roads, and there are many dangers in it. Unexpected events, planned and unplanned, occur on every trip.

The map of the trip is therefore a road story. A story in which every path and every place is interwoven with far-reaching descriptions. The story of the road becomes, after the trip, a life story. This is done through storytelling. After the journey, loaded with experiences and pictures, the traveller tells about the trip as part of the important sources of his lives, and do it as a storyteller, while carefully preserving the balance between the real and imaginary.

Woman engrossed in reading a trip map  in the middle of the street 

Tourist map of China with famous attractions

Humanized Map Principles

At the very heart of the map, like the movie, is the narrative platform, as a means of mass communication, as visual art, a product of expression, as a language with distinct syntax and built-in grammar.

What are the building blocks of the map as a language? What are its components and how does the manipulations they generate work?

As in the case of any language, the cartographic syntax also operates within the framework of some particular "logic."

The cartographic language is a diverse terminological system that includes data collection, editing and interpretation.

The basic elements of the satellite image may be: size, angle, camera movement, lighting, and more.

From here begins the process of interpreting the photographic expression in the direction of a cartographic expression - a map.

Every action from here on is an appeal on the realist example. Every action creates a response, there is no action without a counter-action, the combination of the two is the heart of the matter. This creates a drama that begins and ends in combination.

The map is building and organization of a composition. Creating the map is a process similar to creating a movie. We activate in the mind of the map reader: angles, axes, motions, and all visual components in space. The cartographer is actually a director. All possible visual elements are engineered into the map.

Like any cinematic shot, the map also has one central component in the general picture, which can be called dominant. It is highlighted by the artist through graphic embossing of color, blurring, and more.

The aerial photograph as an objective camera, a fly on the wall, is a tool for voyeurism and an invasion mechanism. The larger the zoom, the greater the invasion of others life.

That's why the cartographer has to be subjective. He has to wander over the photograph like a mobile camera, extract meanings, and express his inner world.

Using as many graphic tools as possible, he creates a composition, by which he transforms the two-dimensional photograph into a three-dimensional creation. The 3D, which is a basic concept in the brain, requires the map reader to create a vanishing point of consciousness, a synthesis, which is the necessary conclusion for him from reading the map's data. The graphic vanishing point is created by highlighting certain elements at the expense of others. The vanishing point of consciousness is, to a large extent, also the visual vanishing point - the focal point.

Symmetry, therefore, becomes only one instrument of many species in the cartographer's toolbox. The photographed space is for him a means of expression. He breaks it by emphasizing or assimilating various elements.

Space design techniques are also a means of emotional-Pavlovian conditioning.

The cartographer creates space inside a space. It intensifies the dimension of depth by creating images, by changing focus.

The map creates a cinematic character, as every movie creates a cartographic figure. For example, movies dealing with the city. The fetishization of urban space exists in both films and maps. The city, movie, or map, may be perceived as threatening or friendly, foreign or close, and so forth.

Underlying the reading of the map is the map legend, which serves as an introduction to its principles. The legend enables understanding of the cartographic image as a semiotic array of: sign, signified, marked. This is the basic language of the concepts that build the map, and its principles of interpreting it.

The entrance gate to each map is formalism, which is a style under the "realist example." This is similar to basic concepts and basic patterns of the objective camera.

Then comes the question of the cartographic composition. The spatial arrangement as an emotional manipulation, space as a figure, space as a means of expression. Realism has to become a style, through the vanishing point of consciousness, and the symmetrical space becomes an asymmetrical space, the object of aesthetic choices.

Maps manipulates the dimensions of space and time. They takes us to many places and times. They may create a continuous consciousness or static consciousness. A dynamic map, liberated and dramatic, creates an entirely different emotional state from a static map.

That is how the narrative is created. The map is a plot anchored in narrative. It is an information channel that includes text and sub-text, as continuous and coherent as possible, which includes repetition, memory and recollection as basic principles.

There are map genres. The genre is a premise in cartography. Over the generations, genre principles have become the cornerstones of map art, such as the genres in classical Hollywood cinema.

The genre makes editing the map clearer. This is done through rhythm, images, associations, and so on.

In addition, it is possible to present maps as cinematic works, on video clips, through camera movement, and various editing combinations.

Many maps are currently being presented accompanied by soundtrack and cinematic music.

In the past it was the storyteller who wandered from city to city and told his experiences against the background of his journey map. 

Today, cinema and the modern soundtrack make it possible to synthesize sound and image, and to present maps according to cinematic principles.

A satellite photo of Northern California

Physical map of northern California

Map of northern California settlements and roads

Pareidolia

The psychological phenomenon of Pareidolia, according to which the brain responds to visual stimulation by perceiving a familiar pattern that does not exist in practice, is very common.

Common examples are captured images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud configurations. Rocks may mimic familiar shapes created by their processes of formation and decay.

People with a hobby can collect small pieces of concrete or pebbles resembling bones, skulls, oysters, turtles, and so on, which resemble the source both in size and shape.

The act of imagination make it possible to to separate undefined images, such as walls and surfaces stained with different stains, or made from a mixture of different types of materials, to well understood forms. We turn them to familiar objects, such as human figures with strange expressions, landscapes, impressive clothes, and any other well known image.

In most cases people interpret random images, or patterns of light and shadow, like faces. Research has found that objects perceived as faces trigger an early activation of the brain region that specializes in object recognition, and the brain does so in the same way that ordinary faces do, whereas other ordinary objects do not activate the same reaction. The activation even occurs at a slightly higher speed than the response to images of real faces.

In the brain, cognitive processes are triggered by any 'face-like' object, and they alert both the emotional state and the identity of the subject, even before the conscious mind begins processing or even receiving the information. This powerful and sophisticated ability to process information is at the core of the brain, and therefore subconscious. The information becomes knowledge even before it is pass on to the rest of the brain for detailed processing.

Facial recognition software is very successful because of the great diversity of human faces. You can recognize faces with tiny details. The area of the brain responsible for identifying the faces is one of the most developed.

This feature also helps the brain to easily transform inanimate objects into simulated faces.

Because the face recognition area is one of the most developed parts of the brain, The process of identifying and separating the faces is so well developed, that it seems to be operated without questions. We can walk in a strange city we have never been to, look for a moment at a face staring out of the crowd, and identify him. The ability to recognize faces is a wonder of the human brain, and people are so good at it that the feeling is that we do it effortlessly.

The area of the brain that is responsible for facial recognition continues to develop and functions better after adolescence, into our adulthood. This is a discovery of the brain structure, which is an important news for scientists, on a subject that is still hidden under the surface.

Although the appearances of faces in food, hairstyles and pictures are a subject of laughter, there is a very important truth behind the phenomenon. We are prone to seeing faces in every corner of the visual world. These experiences express the enormous impact imagination has on our perception.

What is there inside human beings that just pop up in front of our eyes at every opportunity? Many websites are decorated with pictures of human faces in fences, electricity poles, sidewalks, cracks in the wall, and so on. Studies reveal a very complex picture in which psychology, evolution and even spirituality play a central role. In many cases the faces we see are composed of basic geometrical shapes. But even the most dim images evoke faces. No matter how vague and random the patterns are, somehow, the brain manages to produce within them the contours of a human face.

We tend to believe that our eyes represent a reliable picture of reality, but in reality the eyes are merely means of transmitting light waves. The organ who makes up the picture is the brain, and the brain has its own pattern of action. One of the ways in which the brain arranges images is by creating a prediction of what appears, based on our past experience. It throws the existing expectations on everything we look at and intertwines them with the meaning it produces. In this way the brain can create a clear meaning even from a blurry image or poor visibility. On the other hand, this method makes our vision so subjective that in a sense we see what we want to see.

In face recognition, apart from the visual part of the brain, other parts of memory and planning also work. As a result, a unique part of the brain, which responds especially when stimulating human faces, is activated. It gives us the feeling that we are looking at thinking and feeling things, that we see "real" faces. People follow the "gaze" of objects just as we are used to following the gaze of people, and are tempted to look and see what makes them react so.

One possible answer to this riddle is that we see so many real human faces in everyday life that we expect to see them everywhere. From childhood, this is the most common stimulus we encounter. Another answer, for evolutionary reasons, human survival depends on other people, whether or not we need help from them. One must understand other people and decipher their behavior at high speed, so it is possible that the brain is wired to identify other people at every opportunity. The accidental error of "fake" face recognition in a tree trunk is not as serious as failing to recognize a real face hiding in the bushes.

A similar mechanism may work in the opposite direction. The brain tries to cast its human qualities on things that are not necessarily human according to the accepted definitions. In an attempt to deal with the uncertainty of the world, man 'facialize' various phenomena and seeks his reflection in nature.

One of the most prominent examples is the 'faces' of cars, with the human contours that come from the lights and the grill. Everywhere in the world, locals associate the same human expressions with cars. A car with round headlights and a small grill, for example, is described as feminine. On the other hand, straight lights and a wide grill are considered masculine. There is a need for the brain to locate biological information in the form of facial expressions, wherever it can. It is amazing to see how we perceive the modern environment through such ancient mechanisms.

The face recognition feature in objects can have a ractical influence on our lives. If the car has a 'threatening look', it may provoke aggressiveness among other drivers. Signs of "eye-examiners" reduced cases of theft by more than half.

The success of each process stems from the level of connection between the process and its purpose and ultimate goal. When the human brain wants to recognize a person's face, it can do so by finding a common denominator, and by comparing complex patterns. The brain quickly maps the patterns to the problem it faces and prioritizes the various comparisons.

Facial wisdom - Personology is a familiar subject of study. Its basis was intuition, and with the development of research it became an exact science. Our facial features represent character traits inherent in man and allow us to see the person behind the mask.

The use of facial wisdom is evident in almost every aspect of life: the family communication, the workplace, and more. The theory of Personology presents an impressive and accurate analysis of the personality structure, The tools are reliable and they testify to the human skills, the pattern of its importance, its creation, and the mental barriers it contains.

Personology studies also lead to body language analysis, interpersonal communication, obsessive disorders, skin problems, and complementary medicine such as iridology and reflexology.

Family of rocks in Bulgarian mountains

Tribe of rocks in canyons country in Utah

Face recognition software

Ruin is similar to human face

Hammock before windows create smiling face

Humanization in daily life and religion

Humanization is the giving of human qualities to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and so on. In Greek the concept is called Anthropomorphism, a word that means 'human form'.

In the language of speech and writing, humanization is a kind of common metaphor, designed to create an emotional impression. Examples are: the bosom of the earth, the howl of the wind. It is one of the most characteristic traits of humankind.

In everyday life, thinking about important objects is common as having human qualities. Advances in artificial intelligence can make humanization an even more significant phenomenon. Artificial intelligence greatly increases the humanization threshold of computers. Advanced computers can display specific human behaviors, such as learning from error or expecting to receive certain information. Of course there are also robots that mimic the movements and shape of people. At the same time, many devices are already operating according to instructions in speech.

Humanization of animals has been accepted since the dawn of mankind. There are alternative books and teachings dealing with the comparison between human traits and animal traits. The theme is common in children's books. Examples include: Isofus Proverbs, Animal Farm, Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, Wind in the Willows, and so on.

Walt Disney took the theme of comic anthropomorphism and brought it to the center of culture. A central part of the children's time is devoted to watching cartoons, in which animalism is very common. Characters from Mickey Mouse, Kermit the Frog, Bugs Bunny, etc., are for the children a significant imitation heroes.

The pantheon of gods in Greek mythology is entirely of humanized figures: Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Poseidon, Eros, Venus, Mars, and others. Mythology stories are mostly the story of the gods' plots among humans. Below the gods there is a level of demi-gods, which is the result of a pairing between the gods and ordinary human beings, who became human beings with divine attributes, such as Perseus, Hercules, and Psyche.

In the Hindu religion there are many deities, each of which has specific and distinct human characteristics.

The monotheistic religious faith generally considers it wrong to describe the God of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as human. God is abstract in form and properties. However, it is very difficult for the average person to describe God without an anthropomorphic framework. It should also be noted that the biblical creation story describes God creating man in His image.

Modern geographers are aware that religion can be a starting point for building an ethnic and national identity, and religious ideology and practice have a great influence on location. Immigration processes have also created landscape changes, as there are many immigrant communities defined by religion.

Public places not defined by religion in the recent past, including the city, the neighborhood, the street, the schools, and many domestic spaces, and at the same time parts of the media and the economy, have become areas that combine religious practice in an informal manner. In this way, humanization has, in fact, became the most important driving force in interpersonal communication.

Rocks in human figure forms are a powerful attraction

The fox is one of the most beloved animals

Heroes of Walt Disney

Child and robot

Zeus, the head of the gods in Greek mythology 

God creates man in his image and likeness 

in the fresco in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Jesus Christ - a person who has become a divinity

Buddha - a human being who became a deity

The god of fortune in Chinese culture

Ganash - a Hindu god with an elephant head and a human body

Imaginary anatomy and art

The basic actions through which a person's mind is reflected are through his care of his body: cleanliness, concern for health, eating, and the like. We think of the anatomical body as our internal reality. A means through which one can examine society, culture and the human condition. But our bodies are hidden from us. What happens under our skin is mysterious, frightening, fascinating. In the distant past, the inner structure of the human body was a matter of speculation, fantasy, and little research, and there were very few attempts to present it in pictures. The development of anatomical research, together with the invention of printing and the subsequent flow of printing technologies, helped to inspire new and striking anatomy. Imaginary anatomy flourished, full of information but also strange, surreal, beautiful and ridiculous - exposes the external world as much as it exposes the inner world.

At the beginning of the modern era the boundary between art and science was undefined yet. Anatomy experts and their artistic partners used familiar ways of portraying them through religious and artistic landscape symbols. The artists tried to create precise illustrations, but also surprising, beautiful and entertaining.

Between 1680 and 1800, anatomy experts began to explore the imaginary elements of the scientific illustration. The reliability of anatomy, they claimed, was impaired by visual delusions, imaginary landscapes, and comic poses. When the ancient printing technologies became sophisticated, a style of brilliant and dreamy hyper-authenticity emerged, which showed, with great artistic talent, more sophisticated knowledge and an updated perception of the interior of the body.

In the 1930s, Fritz Kahn in Germany produced a series of books on the inner workings of the human body. He used metaphors taken from the industrial world: production lines, internal combustion engines, refineries, power generators, telephones, and so on. The body in Kahn's works was 'modern' and productive, a subject emphasized visually through innovative art. Although his books sold well, his Jewishness, and his preaching for public reforms, made him the target of Nazi attacks. He fled to America in 1940.

The anatomical presentations in recent years offer us traces of our inner selves. The artist / scientist / journalist Alexander Ciaras is inspired by the worldview that the anatomical body is a microcosm, a 'small world', and what is found in the external world is also found within man and is revealed through the science of anatomy. Ciaras uses body scanners and laser holograms to create images of the human body that combine an accurate description with an artistic touch.

In everyday life, we are surrounded from all sides by spectacular visual representations of our body organs, from the entire body, through individual organs, to microscopic cells. These perceptions are embedded in every move we make. It seems that the eye is not satisfied with these illustrations, and the brain asks them for more and more, without ever finding the way to satisfy what he wants.

The systemic approach, which has taken a great deal of control over all areas of scientific thought today, has led to anatomical and biological systems in general being compared to artificial systems used by man, as well as information systems. The action of the human body is defined as the action of different systems, and the systems created by man in all spheres of existence try to learn from the manner in which these systems work and enact them.

One of the central themes in art is 'nature landscapes'. Artistic freedom allows the artist to create imaginary landscapes on the canvas, which, after hanging on the walls, become an inseparable part of the world picture of the occupants of the house.

Classical architecture places emphasis on the 'human front' of the buildings. This was achieved through design, decorations and sculptures. The combination of human figures and textures on the façades of luxury houses and squares contributes to the urban landscape.

While the anatomical description is committed to scientific precision in describing the human body, the art of painting enjoys great freedom in this field. The creation of plastic art that combines people with landscape descriptions unites them. Descriptions of the landscape become the reflection of man, and vice versa. Many of the great painting artists anthropomorphized the landscapes that were the background to the characters that were the theme, and one example is the Mona Lisa background.

Before the Renaissance there were no landscape paintings, at least not as we understand them. If anything, landscape was just a background view of the human figures. It was gradually changing. When the trees, the mountains, the fields, and the oceans began to stand out, a strange phenomenon occurred: the anthropomorphic landscape. Human forms in fact merged with the landscape, as if nature is nothing without the human narrative. It was as if one could not appreciate an art that did not returned in reflection, in the literal sense of the word.

These paintings usually included a hidden face in the landscape, as if to indicate that the earth was the one that shaped them, and its meaning is only the use made of it. This was especially true for some 17th century artists in the Netherlands. They produced a large number of works depicting the silhouette of a bearded man appearing in profile over rocky mountains. The beginning of the trend can be traced to the image created by the scholar Kirscher. He said that his design was inspired by a story about the plan in ancient times to sculpt a huge figure of Alexander the Great on Mount Athos.

Impressionist painters who were considered unacceptable at the end of the 19th century, but whose works are sold at record prices at the beginning of the 21st century, emphasized the general impression that the figure and the landscape combined, at the expense of the accuracy of the description. In this style, it is much easier to combine the subject with the landscape in the background and to prominently portray the human essence, both physical and spiritual.

The painter Salvador Dali described with his brush surrealistic visions in which the human body crumbles against a desert landscape, thereby creating an authentic combination of anatomy and geography. The painting is a political protest against the war. Dali was able to create a shocking picture, which leaves a great impression on the viewer, because of the frame created by the body organs against the sky, a composition that is a call to action for the subconscious.

Post-modern artists deconstructed the scenes they described for the basic elements. They created a way to describe the living and the inanimate with molecular tools. The postmodern architecture has abandoned the pure functional style, with its straight lines and flat, transparent facades, typical of skyscrapers in city centers. Architects like Frank Ghery have returned to human integration in the landscape of buildings they have planned, by creating structural disorder, which is actually a fitting facade of the physical sensation in the spatial environment of the building, and simultaneously gives a sense of its goals.

Artists today use digital technologies to create images in the style of fantastic realism and science fiction which is widespread in comics and cinema, with works such as Metropolis, Blade Runner, The Spirit in the Shell, Star Wars and others, whose plots take place in geographically imaginative places. At the same time, the body of the human characters in them is usually hybrid, part of it natural and part artificial. The theme of these works is always how much the human attributes can be stretched through anthropomorphism.

"The Make of Tuvia" by Tuvia Katz [1652-1729] 
compares the body to the interior of the house

Morbid hyper-anatomy of Gubard Beidlo [1640-1711]  

Fritz Kahn - the body as an industrial palace

Alexander Cyaras - Fetus

Frontal illustration of the head that highlights the muscles

Building facade decorated with sculptures in Bellini Square in Naples

Vinslast Haller - landscape as a human face, 17th century

Dali - Civil War Alert - 1936

Frank Gehry - Buildings leaning like a group of men, Dusseldorf

The Spirit in the Shell - A Science Fiction Movie, 2017