🗺️Psychogeography and Art Unit 8 – Psychogeography and Digital Media

What is Psychogeography?

• Explores the psychological effects of urban environments on individuals and groups
• Originated with the Situationist International, a radical art and political group in the 1950s and 60s
• Involves drifting or wandering through cities to experience them in new ways (dérive)
• Seeks to break free from routine and habitual ways of navigating and perceiving urban spaces
  • Encourages playful, spontaneous exploration
  • Aims to reveal hidden aspects of the city and its psychic resonances
• Investigates the emotional and behavioral impact of architecture, infrastructure, and public spaces
• Considers how urban design reflects and reinforces social, political, and economic power structures
• Examines the role of memory, history, and personal associations in shaping our experience of place

Digital Media Basics

• Refers to any form of media that is encoded in a machine-readable format
• Includes text, images, audio, video, and interactive content
• Can be created, modified, and distributed using digital devices and software
• Relies on binary code, a system of 0s and 1s, to store and transmit information
• Allows for easy duplication, manipulation, and dissemination of content
  • Enables rapid sharing and remix culture
  • Raises questions about authorship, ownership, and authenticity
• Facilitates global communication and collaboration through networked technologies
• Transforms traditional media industries and creates new forms of expression and interaction

Intersection of Psychogeography and Digital Tech

• Digital tools expand the possibilities for psychogeographic exploration and documentation
• GPS and mobile devices enable real-time mapping and recording of urban wanderings
  • Apps like Google Maps and Waze provide new ways to navigate and experience the city
  • Geotagging allows for the creation of place-based narratives and archives
• Social media platforms facilitate the sharing and collective analysis of psychogeographic observations
• Virtual and augmented reality technologies offer immersive experiences of urban environments
  • Can simulate psychogeographic dérives in digital spaces
  • Overlay historical, fictional, or subjective layers onto physical reality
• Data visualization techniques reveal patterns and insights in psychogeographic data
• Algorithmic processes can generate new forms of psychogeographic art and exploration

Key Thinkers and Artists

• Guy Debord: French theorist and founding member of the Situationist International
  • Developed the concept of the dérive and psychogeographic mapping
  • Authored "The Society of the Spectacle," critiquing consumer culture and media
• Michel de Certeau: French philosopher who explored the practices of everyday life
  • Analyzed walking as a subversive act that resists the power structures of the city
  • Distinguished between the strategic view from above and the tactical experience on the ground
• Iain Sinclair: British writer and filmmaker known for his psychogeographic explorations of London
  • Works include "Lights Out for the Territory" and "London Orbital"
  • Uses walking as a means of uncovering hidden histories and narratives of place
• Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller: Canadian artists who create immersive audio walks
  • Combine site-specific recordings, music, and fictional narratives to guide participants through urban spaces
  • Works include "The Missing Voice (Case Study B)" and "Alter Bahnhof Video Walk"

Digital Tools for Psychogeographic Exploration

• Smartphones and tablets with built-in GPS, cameras, and audio recording capabilities
  • Enable mobile documentation and sharing of psychogeographic experiences
  • Apps like Field Trip and Dérive app facilitate serendipitous exploration
• Wearable technologies like smartwatches and fitness trackers
  • Track movement, biometric data, and environmental conditions during urban wanderings
  • Provide insights into the physiological and emotional effects of different spaces
• Drones and satellite imagery for aerial perspectives and remote sensing
  • Offer new ways of visualizing and analyzing urban landscapes
  • Raise ethical questions about surveillance and privacy
• Virtual and augmented reality platforms (Unity, Unreal Engine, ARKit)
  • Allow for the creation of immersive, interactive psychogeographic experiences
  • Blend digital content with physical environments to reveal hidden layers of meaning
• Open-source mapping tools (OpenStreetMap, QGIS)
  • Enable collaborative mapping and data analysis
  • Support the creation of alternative, subjective cartographies

Creating Digital Psychogeographic Art

• Use digital tools to document and interpret urban wanderings
  • Capture photos, videos, audio recordings, and GPS tracks
  • Annotate and layer media to create rich, multimedia narratives
• Experiment with algorithmic and generative processes
  • Use code to create data-driven visualizations of psychogeographic explorations
  • Develop interactive systems that respond to user input or environmental data
• Collaborate with others to create collective psychogeographic works
  • Use social media and online platforms to share and remix content
  • Organize participatory events and walks that engage the public
• Integrate physical and digital elements in hybrid installations and performances
  • Use projection mapping, sensors, and responsive technologies
  • Create site-specific works that activate and transform urban spaces
• Explore the poetics and politics of digital psychogeography
  • Reflect on the ways digital technologies shape our experience of place
  • Use psychogeographic practices to critique and resist dominant power structures

Ethical Considerations

• Privacy and surveillance concerns in the digital age
  • Psychogeographic data can reveal sensitive information about individuals and communities
  • Need for informed consent and data protection measures
• Potential for digital technologies to reinforce existing inequalities and biases
  • Algorithmic decision-making can perpetuate discriminatory patterns
  • Digital access and literacy barriers can exclude certain groups from participation
• Commercialization and commodification of psychogeographic practices
  • Risk of co-optation by marketing and advertising interests
  • Need to maintain critical distance and resist recuperation
• Environmental impact of digital technologies and infrastructure
  • E-waste, energy consumption, and resource extraction associated with digital devices
  • Importance of sustainable and ethical approaches to technology use and production
• Responsibility of artists and researchers to consider the social and political implications of their work
  • Potential for unintended consequences and misuse of psychogeographic data and tools
  • Need for ongoing reflection, dialogue, and accountability

Future Trends and Possibilities

• Increasing integration of digital technologies into urban infrastructure and everyday life
  • Smart cities, Internet of Things, and ubiquitous computing
  • Opportunities for real-time, responsive psychogeographic interventions
• Advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning
  • Automated analysis and interpretation of psychogeographic data
  • Generative algorithms for creating novel forms of psychogeographic art
• Emergence of new forms of virtual and augmented reality
  • Haptic interfaces, brain-computer interfaces, and other immersive technologies
  • Potential for more embodied and multisensory psychogeographic experiences
• Growing interest in participatory and citizen-led approaches to urban planning and design
  • Psychogeographic insights informing more inclusive and livable cities
  • Digital tools empowering communities to shape their own environments
• Continued exploration of the political and subversive potential of psychogeography
  • Using digital technologies to challenge dominant narratives and power structures
  • Imagining alternative futures and ways of inhabiting urban spaces