Purpose of this Blog/Website

This blog has been provided to enable people to contribute with their own experiences of walking through towns and cities in the style of a dérive. Please see just below to find out what this means. If you wish to be able to contribute to this blog (not just comment) then please email your request to derivewithme@yahoo.co.uk

What is Dérive

From Wikipedia, “In philosophy, a Dérive is a French concept meaning an aimless walk, probably through city streets, that follows the whim of the moment.”

The idea is that we normally spend all of our time going from ‘A to B’ and forget to notice our surroundings and details that would otherwise interest, amuse and stimulate us.

Again from Wikipedia, “French philosopher and situationist Guy Debord used this idea to try and convince [his] readers to revisit the way they looked at urban spaces. Rather than being prisoners to their daily route and routine, living in a complex city but treading the same path every day, he urged people to follow their emotions and to look at urban situations in a radical new way.”

To make/create/follow your own dérive is simple. You just need to open your eyes, ears and nose, then walk. When you come to a junction or you need to make a decision about your direction, don’t make this decision on practical terms but rather just do what ever attracts you about a certain route. For example, you may see a person or animal, you may hear a noise or you may have some preconceptions about a route and you want to check them out.

You can record your experience and the different way you looked at your surroundings here.

The process can take 5 minutes, it can take all day. There are no rules, you can stop in a pub if you want, you can sit in the park, it is up to you.

Recipe For Contribution

If you would like to contribute to this log, you can make a record of where you have been on a map (you can use Google maps), make some notes of what you have seen and where, and you can take some photographs. To allow you to submit, you will need to gain permission by emailing derivewithme@yahoo.co.uk

Thursday, 31 July 2008

Let your shoes do the talking




Have a look at this web page which describes some clever technology used to dictate the direction of a walk. Rather than using your senses to determine a route, "I like the look of that", "I wonder where that goes"... these people have modified some roller shoes to automatically and randomly indicate to the wearer which way to travel - have a look at

http://www.xncroft.com/projects/energyshoes.html

An interesting take on the dérive concept.






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