Psychogeography Situationist International

the first edition of internationale situationniste defined psychogeography study of specific effects of geographical environment (whether consciously organized or not) on emotions , behavior of individuals. term first recognized in 1955 guy debord while still letterist international:

the word psychogeography, suggested illiterate kabyle general term phenomena few of investigating around summer of 1953, not inappropriate. not contradict materialist perspective of conditioning of life , thought objective nature. geography, example, deals determinant action of general natural forces, such soil composition or climatic conditions, on economic structures of society, , on corresponding conception such society can have of world. psychogeography set study of precise laws , specific effects of geographical environment, whether consciously organized or not, on emotions , behavior of individuals. charmingly vague adjective psychogeographical can applied findings arrived @ type of investigation, influence on human feelings, , more situation or conduct seems reflect same spirit of discovery.

dérive

by definition, psychogeography combines subjective , objective knowledge , studies. debord struggled stipulate finer points of theoretical paradox, producing theory of dérive in 1958, document serves instruction manual psychogeographic procedure, executed through act of dérive ( drift ).

in dérive 1 or more persons during period drop usual motives movement , action, relations, work , leisure activities, , let drawn attractions of terrain , encounters find there... dérive includes both letting go , necessary contradiction: domination of psychogeographical variations knowledge , calculation of possibilities.

si engaged in play-form practiced predecessor organization, lettrist international, art of wandering through urban space, termed dérive, unique mood conveyed in debord’s darkly romantic meaning of palindrome. 2 excursions organized andre breton serve closest cultural precedents dérive. first in 1921, excursion church of saint-julien-le-pauvre parisian dadaists; second excursion on may 1, 1923, when small group of surrealists walked toward countryside outside of blois. debord cautious differentiate between derive , such precedents. emphasized active character “a mode of experimental behavior” reached romanticism, baroque, , age of chivalry, tradition of long adventures voyages. such urban roaming characteristic of left bank bohemianism in paris.

in si s 6th issue, raoul vaneigem writes in manifesto of unitary urbanism, space occupied enemy. living under permanent curfew. not cops—the geometry . dérive, conceptualized tactic in french military, calculated action determined absence of greater locus , , maneuver within enemy s field of vision . si, interest inhabiting space, dérive brought appeal in sense of taking fight streets , indulging in determined operation. dérive course of preparation, reconnaissance, means of shaping situationist psychology among urban explorers eventuality of situationist city.