Arts of urban exploration

Abstract

This paper addresses ways in which artists and cultural practitioners have recently been using forms of urban exploration as a means of engaging with, and intervening in, cities. It takes its cues from recent events on the streets of New York that involved exploring urban spaces through artistic practices. Walks, games, investigations and mappings are discussed as manifestations of a form of ‘psychogeography’, and are set in the context of recent increasing international interest in practices associated with this term, following its earlier use by the situationists. The paper argues that experimental modes of exploration can play a vital role in the development of critical approaches to the cultural geographies of cities. In particular, discussion centres on the political significance of these spatial practices, drawing out what they have to say about two interconnected themes: ‘rights to the city’ and ‘writing the city’. Through addressing recent cases of psychogeographical experimentation in terms of these themes, the paper raises broad questions about artistic practices and urban exploration to introduce this theme issue on ‘Arts of urban exploration’ and to lead into the specific discussions in the papers that follow.

New Sites/Sights: Exploring the White Spaces of Organization

“…There is an important history of empire associated with this mapping of 'white spaces' (Hobsbawm, 2011) into which missionaries, intrepid adventurers, anthropologists, and the military sought new experiences, plunder and conquest. Over the centuries the shape of this terra incognita has variously shifted and morphed, from Mercator and Ortelius up to the recent maps of situationist and psychogeographic practices where it has assumed all manner of fantastical projections (Pinder, 2005;Sadler, 1999). White spaces are important because they offer an Other into which we often project our deepest fears and fantasies and thereby offering resource upon which to reflect and take measure of the community from which the venture out proceeded.…”

Ways of Walking: Understanding Walking's Implications for the Design of Handheld Technology Via a Humanistic Ethnographic Approach

“…By applying the model of an algorithm to a walk, psycho-geographers (e.g., Pinder, 2005) have attempted to challenge the predictable, orderly, and indeed ordering structures of urban landscapes by applying generative methods to shape a walk. For instance, by scripting the walker to go for "one block, then one block left, then two blocks right, then repeat," any habitual and materially structured walking, devoid of adventure and discovery, is contested.…”

L’ethos collectif des guerrilla gardeners à Montréal : entre conflictualité et inclusion

“…Il ne semblerait donc pas qu'il existe, à l'heure actuelle, un discours véritablement extérieur à la GG, même dans les publications à caractère scientifique, dont les seules sont la thèse de doctorat (canadienne) en géographie de Annie Crane (2011) 3 et l'article qui en est issu (Crane, Viswanathan, Withelaw 2013). Les auteurs de ce dernier citent seulement six travaux portant sur la GG (Pinder 2005, Tracey 2007, Hou 2010, McClintock 2010, Ryan 2010, Zanetti 2010 parmi lesquels les seuls ouvrages entièrement consacrés à la GG sont l'un des manifestes du mouvement (Tracey 2007) et le mémoire de Master de Olly Zanetti (2010), un activiste anglais qui collabore avec Richard Reynolds. 4 La définition du mouvement reste complexe.…”