Flattening the Viewable Sphere

The viewable sphere corresponds to the space that surrounds us. The evolution of photography and panoramic software and hardware has made it possible for anybody to capture the viewable sphere. It is now up to the artist to determine what can be done with this raw material. In this paper we explore the underdeveloped field of flat panoramas from an artistic point of view. We argue that its future lies in the exploration of conformal mappings, specialized software, and the interaction of its practitioners via the Internet.