︎

︎

︎ The Institute for Linear Research (ILR) is a platform for investigating contemporary landscapes through the lens of remoteness around the Earth.
The Institute encourages everyone to walk a line and map it. The Institute offers workshops along Parallels and it consists of humans who have walked along THE LINE at some point in their lives.
The findings are continually published through the Infinite Publication Series, as an independent press dedicated to expanding the Atlas of Remoteness.

LINEAR ATLAS

Researching THE LINE is a cooperative endeavour
Send us any info about any place THE LINE goes through


click on the red dot
it will take you to THE LINE






Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice walking THE LINE across Liechtenstein with Studio Venice. Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice Photographs taken while walking on THE LINE in Liechtenstein by Studio Venice



















































































Artifacts found on THE LINE in Liechtenstein. Contributed by Alexander Sokolov









Published in Volksblatt. April 04 2018 Published in Volksblatt. November 22 2017 Published in Vaterland. June 07 2018 Published in Vaterland. June 04 2018 Published in Volksblatt. June 07 2018 Published in Vaterland. April 13 2018 Published in Volksblatt. May 23 2018 Published in Volksblatt. April 25 2018 Published in Volksblatt. August 23 2018 Published in Vaterland. May 17 2018 Published in Vaterland. March 09 2018 Published in Volksblatt. May 08 2018






























































Parallel B (Triesen)

︎
︎
︎

︎
︎
︎
︎

Austria

Walk in Nenzinger Himmel, Vorarlberg, Austria. Walker: Luis Hilti, 2021. 35mm film photo.






















These are the only three kilometers going through Austria. Almost unwalkable.




















Austria. August 2024. 35 mm photo.

Walk in Nenzinger Himmel, Vorarlberg, Austria. Walker: Luis Hilti, 2021. 35mm film photo.













Walk in the small segment of THE LNE that crosses the asutrian high Alps in Vorarlberg. Sketch by Luis Hilti. Ink on paper, 2022.














Standing on THE LINE in Austria. August 2024. 35 mm photo.

Walk in Nenzinger Himmel, Vorarlberg, Austria. Walker: Luis Hilti, 2021. 35mm film photo.













































Italy



Santuario della Madonna del Buso, in Gallio




































V! Event. A one day event hosted at Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi around remoteness and storytelling. 2018












Jules-Romain Joyant: The Church of San Trovaso, Venice. Circa 1830. Rio di San Trovaso, Venice, Italy. Photocrom print. Circa 1890 Chiesa di S.Gervasio e Protasio. Le fabriche e vedute di Venezia. Luca Carlevarijs. 1703























I santi Vincenzo Ferreri, Giacinto e Ludovico Bertrando. Giambattista Piazzetta. 1738. Chiesa di Santa Maria del Rosario detta dei Gesuati, Venezia






























︎︎︎Venice







Palazzo Trevisan degli Ulivi during the Venice Biennale of Architecture in May 2018.















Walking in Venice. March 2022.
















Walker under Il People Mover di Venezia
















Walking in Venice. Lilian Hasler, 2022. Pencil on paper.














THE LINE across South Tyrol. Right next to the Messner Mountain Museum Ortles -one of the six exhibition venues initiated by the popular mountaineer Reinhold Messner.At MMM Ortles Reinhold Messner tells of the Terrors of Ice and Darkness, Snow People and Snow Lions, the Whiteout and the Third Pole. An interesting article on Messner's museums can be fund here: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/t-magazine/austria-museums-mountains.html


















THE LINE across Dorsoduro, Venice









At Tronchetto facing Marghera





Wholesale Fish market. Port of Venice



















Albania



Plans for a Linear Walk across the Ksamil peninsula. Field research was meant to be conducted in September 2020 but could not take place due to COVID-19. Matilde Igual, 2020.









































︎ Parallel T (Tirana, Albania)
︎
︎
︎
︎
︎
Memories and imaginations along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Memories and imaginations along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Poli University in Tirana. Photographs taken along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Memories and imaginations along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Poli University in Tirana. Photographs taken along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Memories and imaginations along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Poli University in Tirana. Photographs taken along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Memories and imaginations along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Poli University in Tirana. Photographs taken along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Memories and imaginations along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Poli University in Tirana. Photographs taken along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Memories and imaginations along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Poli University in Tirana. Axonometrical mapping along Parallel T, depicted is the flour faactory. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Axonometrical mapping along Parallel T, depicted is the flour faactory. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Axonometrical mapping along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Axonometrical mapping along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. Axonometrical mapping along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana. A brick from the flour factory, artifact found along Parallel T. Contributed by the architecture students at Polis University in Tirana.
︎
︎
︎
︎
︎
︎
︎
︎
︎
︎
Greece








































Varsova


























Lady of Zominthos. Figurine found in the palace of Zominthos on Mount Psiloritis in central Crete in 2020. (Jaimee Uhlenbrock, “The “Lady of Zominthos””, Les Carnets de l’ACoSt)






Ta delfinakia tou Amvrakikou (Dolphins of Amvrakikos), a 1993 film by Dinos Dimopoulos



Egypt
Marina El Alamein. The resort is a gated community only accessible to those who own property inside or have been authorized to enter by a property owner. Spanning almost 15 miles (24 km), this beach resort is split into seven different sections named Marina 1–7. THE LINE crosses through Marina 2.






















The oasis of Laqeita. Cuvigny, H. 2003. Les documents écrits de la route de Myos Hormos à l’époque gréco-romaine. In: H. Cuvigny, ed. Vols 1–2. (FIFAO no. 48). La route de Myos Hormos, L’armée romaine dans le désert Oriental d’Egypte (Praesidia du désert de Bérénice I). pp. 265–294, p.45, fig. 7.


















Archaeological sketch map of Dunqash. From: Klemm, D.D. & Klemm, R. 2013. Gold and Gold Mining in Ancient Egypt and Nubia : Geoarchaeology of the Ancient Gold Mining Sites in the Egyptian and Sudanese Eastern Deserts. (Natural Science in Archaeology). Berlin: Springer, fig. 5.168.




Dunqash, hieroglyphs carved on side of mountain adjacent to site. From: Sidebotham, S.E. & Gates-Foster, J.E. eds. 2019. The archaeological survey of the desert roads between Berenike and the Nile Valley. Expeditions by the University of Michigan and the University of Delaware to the Eastern Desert of Egypt, 1987-2015. (Archaeological Reports no. 26). Boston: Boston, MA : American Schools of Oriental Research, p.214, fig. 3.189.




Sudan
Halayeb triangle - Carnegie Middle East Center
Eritrea
D’Abbadie, A. Thomson. “Note on Some Names of Places on the Shores of the Red Sea.” The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, vol. 9, 1839, pp. 317–24.























Simplified geologic map of the Afar Depression. Created by User:Zyzzy after Beyene and Abdelsalam (2005).



The uninhabited islands of Muhun and Nahleg, part of the Dahlak archipelago in the Red Sea
The uninhabited islands of Muhun and Nahleg, part of the Dahlak archipelago in the Red Sea
















Dahlak. With the Italian National Underwater Expedition to the Red Sea. G Roghi and F Baschieri, 1956
Djibouti


Balbala, a vast suburb of Djibouti City. The suburb has formed since 1966 when access to the city was restricted.














Photo by Agence Urbaplan. Dans le cadre du Projet de Développement Urbain Intégré – phase 2, sur financement de l’AFD, urbaplan a été chargé d’appuyer l’ADDS et le Ministère chargé du Logement à l’élaboration d’un plan de restructuration et d’alignement de ces quartiers. See the plan: https://www.urbaplan.ch/fr/project/plan-de-restructuration-des-quartiers-de-balbala-djibouti/



Port of Doraleh, an extension of the Port of Djibouti, 5 Km away from Djibouti city













Ethiopia
















Settlements in the Dollo Zone in the Somali region of Ethiopia. This zone has a road density of 0.0 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers.



Somalia














A phallic stela on one of the graves of Aw-Barkhadle cemetery (copyright: Sada Mire).





















Godinlabe District Hospital. Goobjoog News, 2016













Qur’anic writing board, mid 20th century Unknown artist, Somalia. From Aw-Barkhadle's site. Today it is exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. https://collections.artsmia.org/art/127612/quranic-writing-board-somalia
















The Umul Quraan Boarding School in Inka Achté's film Golden Land, 2022













Dolmen tumuli Aw-Barkhadle grave (ganggrift). https://www.hornheritage.org/aw-barkhadle-home-of-islam-in-somaliland/



















Godinlabe, a town in Galgaduud, Somalia






Seychelles



Desroches island in the Pacific Ocean is one of the smallest islands of the Seychelles. Entirely devoted to a luxury hotel.















"On Desroches Island, there is nothing to distract you from tranquillity, save for the sound of birds singing and an ocean breeze that invites you to come a little closer. We’re the only resort on this captivating coral island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where the beaches belong to no one and everyone at the same time. Our rustic villas and suites are intimate retreats and will make you feel like a castaway who has struck gold." From the Four Seasons website.







Desroches is a part of the Outer Islands, also known as Coraline Seychelles. The local Seychellois Creole name for the outer islands is Zil Elwannyen Sesel, while the French name is Îles Eloignées: faraway islands.
French Polynesia

Mexico

Heroica Mulegé: The Prison with Open Doors San Juanico on the Pacific Coast of Baja California Sur The area around San Juanico is also known among surfers as Scorpion Bay


















Beach privatisation in Sonora. Playa Los Algodones is on THE LINE.
















Faro Mulegé, Baja California Sur





























































Mexico / USA border Mexico / USA border Mexico / USA border







United States of America


From the Lone Tree Literary Society - dedicated to preserving the childhood impression of novelist-photographer Wright Morris





New Mexico




Akela, New Mexico. Google Street maps screen capture.



︎︎︎Midwest











︎︎︎Iowa

Interstate 29, Iowa. First steps of THE LINE in the Midwest.



















Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. Mary Dahlman Begley, 2021. 35mm black and white film photograph.



On THE LINE in Iowa. Drew Smith, 2021. Screen capture.


Pine Bluff, Iowa. Mary Dahlman Begley and Drew Smith, 2021. Digital photograph.

︎︎︎Minnesota












Walking THE LINE near the Mississippi river - Photographed by Mary Dahlman Begley
Preparing for the walkalong THE LINE across the Mississippi


Flowers encountered during collective walk in Pine Bluff, Minnesota, 2020. Mary Dahlman Begley. Digital photograph.

Walking THE LINE in the United States of America


Walking THE LINE near the Mississippi river - Photographed by Mary Dahlman Begley


Frozen Spring Lake, Minnesota. Walk by Derek Ronding and Jakob Mahla, 2021. Digital Photograph.


walking across the
Mississippi River







THE LINE across the Mississippi River










Steamboat Park, Afton, MN. Photo by Sophie Durbin


Tree trunk encountered on the frozen Mississippi River by Derek Ronding and Jakob Mahla, 2021. Ink on paper.



Parallel Crossing Lines (Chicago)
︎
︎
︎
︎
︎
Crossing Lines, a project by Latent Design was a part of the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial.

︎
︎
︎
︎




Edgewater, Wisconsin. Meg Lundquist, 2021. 35mm colour film photograph.















Moose Lake, Wisconsin. U.S. Geological Survey, National Geospatial Technical Operations Center.
︎︎︎Wisconsin















Hauer, Wisconsin. THE LINE crosses the train tracks. Meg Lundquist, 2021. Digital photograph.

Hauer, Wisconsin. THE LINE crosses the train tracks. Walked by Meg Lundquist in 2021. Google maps screen capture.













Chequamegon National Forest in Winter 2021. Meg Lundquist. 35mm colour film photograph.














































The woods near Moose Lake Wisconsin. Walk by Meg Lundquist in 2021. Digital photograph.




Chequamegon National Forest in Winter 2021. Meg Lundquist. 35mm colour film photograph. The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest covers more than 1.5 million acres of Wisconsin's Northwoods. The USDA Forest Service manages the land for multiple uses including forestry, wildlife habitat, recreation, harvesting of forest products, fisheries, and wilderness and natural areas. (US Department of Agriculture)

Canada











Nain, Nuatsiavut.


Ireland

A Celtic Border and The Line - contribution by Megan Quirey

















United Kingdom
THE LINE crosses the Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border in five different points.











Towns on THE LINE in Northern Ireland, Wales and England



Penmon Point or Black Point (Trwyn Du) as it is also known locally is the most easterly point on Anglesey. The Point is private land currently owned by the Baron Hill estate in Beaumaris, but allow access for a small fee payable at Penmon Priory.
France
Phare de Walde near Calais, built in 1857, now preserved as a monument

















Forêt de Mormal, Nord. the largest area of forest in the Nord department of France.





Preliminary research for a Linear Walk in Calais. 2020.


The Calais Jungle (known officially as Camp de la Lande) was a refugee and migrant encampment in the vicinity of Calais, France that existed from January 2015 to October 2016. There had been other camps known as jungles in previous years, but this particular shanty town drew global media attention during the peak of the European migrant crisis in 2015, when its population grew rapidly. Migrants stayed at the camp while they attempted to enter the United Kingdom, or while they awaited their French asylum claims to be processed.































Postcard of Fourmies. The text reads "By way of... Fourmies"





Preliminary research for a Linear Walk near Calais. 2020.







The municipal theater of Denain, a former mining town




Les racines de la colère by Vincent Jarousseau. A roman-photo published in 2019 in french by Les Arènes and in 2020 in german by Penguin-Random House. "A few weeks before the election of Emmanuel Macron to the presidency of the Republic, the photographer Vincent Jarousseau settled in Denain, a small town of 20,000 inhabitants in northern France, to follow the daily life of families from working-class backgrounds for whom mobility is not always a solution."

Belgium





Étang de la Lobiette, Anor.




Étang de la Lobiette
France
"Even as the forest grew and stretched around it, in the Place à Gaz it was always winter, never spring". Cal Flyn, 2021. Places of Abandonment. Life in the Post-human Landscape. "Forbidden Forest". William Collins..









Place à Gaz, Grémilly, Meuse. https://cdi.eau-rhin-meuse.fr/GEIDEFile/RP-65376-FR_-_HUBE_final_.pdf?Archive=243871306105&File=RP%5F65376%5FFR%5F%5F%5FHuBe%5Ffinal%5F%5Fpdf




















Germany
Hirschsprung, Breitnau.































Pflumenschlucker, a carnival figure from Bonndorf in the Black Forest




a postcard from Titisee sent by Margit Busch

THE LINE  in Germany:
  • Weisweil  
  • Forchheim am Kaiserstuhl 
  • Endingen am Kaiserstuhl  
  • Riegel am Kaiserstuhl  
  • Teningen / Reute / Denzlingen 
  • Heuweiler  
  • Stegen 
  • Buchenbach  
  • Breitnau  
  • Titisee-Neustadt  
  • Lenzkirch  
  • Bonndorf 
  • Stühlingen  
  • Schleitheim

Standing on THE LINE on the german side of the border in Jestetten, near Schaffhausen. August 2024. 35 mm photo, Matilde Igual.e
A brief incursion in Germany.






A short walk across the fields in Germany. August 2024. Left to right: Luis, Hudson, Mary, Drew and Meg. August 2024. 35 mm photo, Matilde Igual.
Switzerland

THE LINE at the intersection to the German/Swiss border, 2024.










On top of Säntis, 2024. Film photograph, Matilde Igual






Members of the Institute for Linear Research on THE LINE on top of Säntis. Left to right: Mary, Matilde, Meg, Hudson, Luis and Drew. August 2024. 35 mm photo, Matilde Igual.







Standing on THE LINE in Mogelsberg. Left to right: Mary, Hudson, Luis, Daniel, Meg and Drew. August 2024. 35 mm photo, Matilde Igual.



THE LINE through Mogelsberg, intersecting with Robert Walser's walk towards Lichtensteig.

















Pointing at THE LINE from the cable car ascendingtowards Säntis, 2024. Film photograph, Matilde Igual

























One of Robert Walser's strolls in his years in Herisau. This one crosses THE LINE in Mogelsberg. https://www.robertwalser.ch/


Following Robert Walser's steps, walking from Mogelsberg to Lichtensteig. August 2024. 35 mm photo, Matilde Igual

































Säntis. August 2024. 35 mm photo.














Säntis is the highest mountain in the Alpstein massif of northeastern Switzerland








































THE LINE near Schaffhausen, 2024. Film photograph. Matilde Igual

Linear Projects




THE LINE

THE LINE is defined by two points. One point is the onset of the first walk by the Institute for Linear Research (guesthouse Sücka, Liechtenstein) the other one is the coordinate of the first exhibition on remoteness by the ILR (Palazzo Trevisan, Venice).
︎︎︎To become a member of the ILR, you may chose a point on THE LINE, go there and start walking along THE LINE, explore remoteness, send your findings to the Institute for Linear Research and publish your research in the Infinite Publication Series and contribute to THE LINE: Atlas of Remoteness
Parallels

Parallels are lines offset from THE LINE, anywhere on earth. Each new parallel extends the emerging linear coordinate system which is ordered by directionality rather than distance.
︎︎︎To become a collaborator of the ILR, you may chose a point on the Earth and draw a Parallel to THE LINE, embark on a collaboration with the ILR along the Parallel, exploring remoteness through Linear Research and together with the ILR compile your findings and publish them in the IPS’s Linear Archive within the series Parallels: Atlas of Remoteness
a line

a line is an imaginary line without curvature projected on the earth.
︎︎︎To become a contributor to the Atlas of Remoteness, you may chose a line on the Earth, get a Linear Logbook from the ILR, walk along the chosen line, map remoteness and send the logbook to the Institute to be published on the IPS’s Linear Archive

Linear Research


Linear Research is based on imposing non-effective, imaginary lines on contemporary landscapes. Not to be confused with its conceptual opposite: effective lines, such as territorial borders. Methods of Linear Research include, but are not limited to Linear Walking and Linear Mapping.


Linear Walking
Linear Walking is understood as the locomotion of the human body and includes but is not limited to ambulating, climbing, canoeing, swimming and roping in a straight line across a given territory
Linear Mapping
Linear Mapping means the translation of sensory experience, reasoning or imaginations that occur during linear walks to paper
Linear informational research
Linear informational research relates to retrieving and connecting information of any kind related to spaces crossed by a straight line


Contact ︎


Feel free to get in touch with us if you want to join the Institute or have a concept for a walk.
If in Europe or Africa and for general inquiries, send us an e-mail to: info@instituteforlinearresearch.org
If in North America (Mexico, USA or Canada), write to:  midwest@instituteforlinearresearch.org

or, even better, send a letter to: 
Institute for Linear Research
Im Bretscha 2
9494 Schaan
 Liechtenstein

The Institute was founded by Luis Hilti and Matilde Igual Capdevila in 2019 as a follow-up of the project THE LINE, developped with Studio Venice, representing Liechtenstein at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2018.
Luis works as an architect and researcher in Schaan, Liechtenstein.
Matilde works as an urban researcher in València, Spain.
Together they have collaborated in various projects since 2009.

In 2024 a North American branch of the Institute for Linear Research was founded. Their contact is Meg Lundquist who works as an architect in Minneapolis, USA.

Members ︎



Anyone who has walked THE LINE becomes a member of the Institute for Linear Research. Membership does not entail any obligation.

Ahmed Elsoudy
Alexandre Sokolov
Alkistis Thomidou
Bianca Böckle
Eddie Sardeng
Enrique Hernández González
Hanna Hajda
Holger Dörner
Jin Yiran
Kateryna Dyma
Luis Hilti
Martin Mràz
Matilde Igual Capdevila
Megan Quirey
Michelle Rheinberger
Nina Beck
Nina Meusburger
Pavle Stamenovic
Philipp Entner
Rüya Hilal Aydede
Sami Akkach
Sofia Liberali 
Tatjana Probst
Ümit Mesci


Institute for Linear Research, 2024

This project has been supported by University of Liechtenstein, Future Architecture Platform, Kulturstiftung Liechtenstein, Fürst Franz Josef von Liechtenstein Stiftung, Consorci de Museus de la Generalitat Valenciana through Cultura Online #CMCVaCasa