Symposium: PopCartography : Maps and popular culture (19th-21st centuries)

10 April 2026
Paris, France

Organisation: History Commission of the French Cartography Committee and the National Library of France

Cartography is popular today for two reasons: it appeals to a wide audience, beyond its practical usefulness; and it is not just a matter for specialists. If by ‘popular culture’ we mean the productions disseminated by the cultural industries since the rise of the serialised novel, we can see that the link between cartography and popular culture has only grown stronger with the rise of visual media, television series and video games. Maps are often at the heart of transmedia storytelling, a strategy that deploys a universe or story across several complementary media and invites the audience to explore these different media for an enriched experience.
The History Commission of the French Cartography Committee and the National Library of France organise a one-day symposium on 10 April 2026 at François-Mitterrand. A call for paper is open until 10 November 2025. More information here.

Venue: François-Mitterrand (BnF)