Jan Estep, Searching for Ludwig Wittgenstein, Lake Eidsvatnet, Skjolden, Sogn, Norway, four-color offset print, illustrated folded sheet map, 2007.

[2007] The illustrated map Searching for Ludwig Wittgenstein, Lake Eidsvatnet, Skjolden, Sogn, Norway documents a hut that Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) commissioned in the small fjord-side village of Skjolden, Norway, where he went to write off and on during his lifetime. The hut is perched on the side of a mountain that overlooks Lake Eidsvatnet, and is quite isolated. Only sections of the stone foundation remain, and a dirt trail leads up to the hut. However, prior to my project the site was not formally mapped, save for a quick sketch drawn by Wittgenstein to its location. Curious about his northern retreat, in 2005, while a visiting artist-scholar at the Wittgenstein Archive, University of Bergen, Norway, I traveled to the Skjolden to search for the hut. Using Wittgenstein's sketch as my guide, I hiked along the lake's edge and up into the mountain woods, collecting video and photography along the route. Once I returned home, I produced a series of large-scale photographs, a set of large inkjet printed trail drawings, a video, and this illustrated folded sheet map. The resulting map includes site photographs, comparative drawings of the trail to the hut's remains, biographical information about the philosopher, as well as a long essay about Wittgenstein's ideas, his time in Norway, and my search for the hut.