Upside Down Globe (The World Turned Upside Down)

The Upside Down Globe above, known as The World Turned Upside Down, can be found on the London School of Economics and Political Science’s main campus just north of Aldwych in London.

It was created by Turner Prize-winning artist Mark Wallinger.

Positioned just outside LSE’s Saw Swee Hock Student Centre, The World Turned Upside Down is an impressive four-metre-wide political globe.

It outlines nation states and borders, but with one critical difference: everything is inverted.

As a result, most landmasses sit in what we typically consider the ‘bottom’ hemisphere, and their labels—countries, cities, and all—have been flipped to match this reversed orientation.

Viewing Earth at this scale on a spherical surface, rather than the usual flat, rectangular Mercator projection, brings two aspects into sharp relief: the true scale of Africa relative to the other continents, and the astonishing breadth of the world’s oceans.

Mark also stated that: “The UN is the authority as to the names and borders. This is the world, as we know it from a different viewpoint. Familiar, strange, and subject to change.”

However, the globe is not without some controversyies.

• Representation of Taiwan
  The first controversy arose when the artwork portrayed Taiwan as a sovereign entity rather than as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This led to protests from both PRC and Taiwanese (Republic of China, ROC) students, along with responses from various parties—including the President of Taiwan, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and members of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group. In 2019, the London School of Economics decided to preserve the original design (where the PRC and ROC appeared as separate entities) but added an asterisk next to Taiwan and an explanatory placard clarifying LSE’s stance on the matter.

• Omission of Palestine
  A separate controversy emerged when a group of students repeatedly vandalized the globe in protest against the omission of Palestine, which, despite being a non-member observer state at the United Nations, was not depicted on the globe.

The globe is free to visit.