Drawing a Thousand Plateaus
Original drawings, discussion, prints, posters, and a Patreon. Since 2010
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of the first three chapters of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schzophrenia (Wikipedia link) by Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari, translated by Brian Massumi, University of Minnesota Press, 1987.
They are created as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. Each drawing is labeled by chapter and paragraph.
Drawings by Chapter
Drawings finished to date.
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Every month supporters get an intimate view inside the process of translating ideas from word to images.
Buy a Thousand Plateaus Original Drawing or Poster
All the illustrations drawn to date are available as original drawings or high quality poster reproductions.
The original drawings are drawn on paper sized 23cm x 30cm (9 x 12 inches). The poster prints are only slight enlargements of the original and aim to keep an intimate scale with the viewer.
The posters are printed on high quality, thick stock and with a matte texture, to best reproduce the look of the matt paper.
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The original drawings are redrawings by Marc of the original drawing, which is sometimes damaged during its making because the process is primarily for understanding the philosophy in the book and the art is somewhat secondary. So the original redrawings that are sent out are in immaculate condition and are accompanied by a very pretty certificate of authenticity.
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A Diagramatic Style for Drawing a Thousand Ideas
I was introduced to the book by a friend, Kevin Steltzer. I started to read his copy during the cottage weekend we were sharing and was instantly mesmerized by the language. I found the ideas quite elusive and felt compelled to make diagrams so that I could better understand and retain the ideas.
The writing in A Thousand Plateaus takes some time to adjust to. It is poetic and packed with images. I'll read a paragraph and then try to focus on one of the prominent images and then draw it out.
The drawing style is very immediate. It has evolved from an automatic style that I was experimenting with as a means of accessing sub conscious material. The drawings were produced quickly with very little left brain processing.
RNA Connective
This style was adapted from illustrations that were developed during my participation in RNA Connective, a Toronto group think collective that created many images and ideas for publication between 1999 and 2001 in collaboration with the Marshall McLuhan Institute at the University of Toronto.
RNA Connective was occupied with the burgeoning digital networked culture of the late 1990's and early 2000's and the drawings explored connected individuality. I found that a very simple diagrammatic style could be used to articulate fairly complex ideas about information, networks and the self.
The RNA drawing style was then adopted to make the visual interpretations of A Thousand Plateaus.
You can see the original RNA drawings here.
Thousand Plateaus Drawings in Exhibition and Print
The drawings have appeared in several international exhibitions and have been published in countless international philosophy publications, doctoral dissertations, and online journals.
Inflexions research journal
Marc sent these diagrams to Brian Massumi, the translator of A Thousand Plateaus into English, who is currently one of the editors of Inflexions, the online journal for research-creation. The first volume of the journal includes some of these diagrams in the Tangents section.
Deleuze and Artistic Research Conference (DARE) 2015, Ghent, Belgium
The drawings were exhibited in a historic library and Marc presented a talk about the process of developing a visual language to present the ideas in the book. Visit the conference archive.
Quantal Strife art exhibition
Many of these drawings were part of a group art show called Quantal Strife.
Using a Thousand Plateaus Drawings in your own work
All drawings are available for publication, both in print and digitally, and for purchase, either as original artworks or as open edition prints.
Interested in PUBLISHING a drawing?
Please contact us to obtain the correct publication permissions for academic or commercial use for paper or digital publishing.
Interested in PURCHASING a drawing?
All drawings are available for purchase as:
Thoughts?
Please do get in touch with any comments or questions.
Commissions and collaborations are welcome.
Thousand Plateaus on Instagram
"An organism that is deterritorialized in relation to the exterior necessarily reterritorializes on its interior milieus. A given presumed fragment of embryo is deterritorialized when it changes thresholds or gradients, but is assigned a new role by the new surroundings. Local movements are alterations. Cellular migration, stretching, invagination, folding are examples of this...Every stratum operates this way: by grasping in its pincers a maximum number of intensities or intensive particles over which it spreads its forms and substances, constituting determinate gradients and thresholds of resonance (deterritorialization on a stratum always occurs in relation to a complementary reterritorialization)."
From "10,000 BC" paragraph 23 b - fragment of drawing.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#stratum
#multiplicity
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
#criticalvisualization
Apr 10
"An organism that is deterritorialized in relation to the exterior necessarily reterritorializes on its interior milieus. A given presumed fragment of embryo is deterritorialized when it changes thresholds or gradients, but is assigned a new role by the new surroundings. Local movements are alterations. Cellular migration, stretching, invagination, folding are examples of this...Every stratum operates this way: by grasping in its pincers a maximum number of intensities or intensive particles over which it spreads its forms and substances, constituting determinate gradients and thresholds of resonance (deterritorialization on a stratum always occurs in relation to a complementary reterritorialization)."
From "10,000 BC" paragraph 23 b - fragment of drawing.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#stratum
#multiplicity
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
#criticalvisualization
Apr 10
"An organism that is deterritorialized in relation to the exterior necessarily reterritorializes on its interior milieus. A given presumed fragment of embryo is deterritorialized when it changes thresholds or gradients, but is assigned a new role by the new surroundings. Local movements are alterations. Cellular migration, stretching, invagination, folding are examples of this...Every stratum operates this way: by grasping in its pincers a maximum number of intensities or intensive particles over which it spreads its forms and substances, constituting determinate gradients and thresholds of resonance (deterritorialization on a stratum always occurs in relation to a complementary reterritorialization)."
From "10,000 BC" paragraph 23 b.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#stratum
#lobster
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
#criticalvisualization
Apr 10
"Therefore it is certain that the demon performs local transports of all kinds. The Devil is a transporter; he transports humors, affects, or even bodies (the Inquisition brooks no compromises on this power of the Devil: the witch`s broom, or "the Devil take you"). But these transports cross neither the barrier of essential forms nor that of substances or subjects."
From "1730", paragraph 30, this portion of the text corresponds to the top row in the illustration.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#devil
#transporter
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
Jan 29
"The Devil and the witch, and the pact between them, are no less real for that, for there is in reality a local movement that is properly diabolical. Theology distinguishes two cases, used as models during the Inquisition: that of Ulysses` companions, and that of Diomedes` companions, the imaginary vision and the spell. In the first, the subject believes him- or herself to be transformed into an animal, pig, ox, or wolf, and the observers believe it too; but this is an internal local movement bringing sensible images back to the imagination and bouncing them off external meanings. In the second, the Devil "assumes" real animal bodies, even transporting the accidents and affects befalling them to other bodies (for example, a cat or a wolf that has been taken over by the Devil can receive wounds that are relayed to an exactly corresponding part of a human body)."
From "1730", paragraph 30, this portion of the text corresponds to the middle row / speech bubble in the illustration.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#devil
#witch
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
Jan 28
"Memories of a Theologian. Theology is very strict on the following point: there are no werewolves, human beings cannot become animal. That is because there is no transformation of essential forms; they are inalienable and only entertain relations of analogy."
From "1730", paragraph 30, this portion of the text corresponds to the bottom row in the illustration.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#theologian
#analogy
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
Jan 28
"Sorcerers have always held the anomalous position, at the edge of the fields or woods. They haunt the fringes. They are at the borderline of the village, or between villages. The important thing is their affinity with alliance, with the pact, which gives them a status opposed to that of filiation. The relation with the anomalous is one of alliance. The sorcerer has a relation of alliance with the demon as the power of the anomalous. The old-time theologians drew a clear distinction between two kinds of curses against sexuality. The first concerns sexuality as a process of filiation transmitting the original sin. But the second concerns it as a power of alliance inspiring illicit unions or abominable loves."
From "1730", paragraph 20, Panel 1.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#sorcerer
#illicitlove
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
Sep 21
"`And there is an entire evolution of sorcery depending on whether the relation of alliance acquires permanence or assumes political weight. In order to produce werewolves in your own family it is not enough to resemble a wolf, or to live like a wolf: the pact with the Devil must be coupled with an alliance with another family, and it is the return of this alliance to the first family, the reaction of this alliance on the first family, that produces werewolves by feedback effect. "
From "1730", paragraph 20, Panel 2.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#wolf
#devil
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
Sep 21
"The important thing is the principle of the simultaneous unity and variety of the stratum: isomorphism of forms but no correspondence; identity of elements or components but no identity of compound substances."
From "10 000 BC", paragraph 11.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#isomorphism
#multiplicity
These drawings are a methodical interpretation of A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia written by modern French philosophers Gilles Delueze and Felix Guattari.
The drawings are created by Canadian artist marcngui as a means of understanding the ideas being presented in the book. 200+ drawings have been created so far and each is labeled by chapter and paragraph. See the project on its homepage, link in the bio.
#PATREON !
patreon.com/drawingathousandplateaus
>>>>
Support a living artist and get an inside look at the process of translating wordy ideas into images.
BUY DRAWINGS!
Original drawings and posters available on the website.
#drawingathousandplateaus
#deleuzeandguattari
#deleuze
#thousandplateaus
#athousandplateaus
#art
#drawing
#philosophy
#philosophyart
#diagram
#illustration
#penandink
#watercolor
#ideas
Sep 21
