There are infinite ways to experience a single place

“By talking our city’s physical geography and overlaying it with psychogeography — a technique of mapping the psychic and emotional flows of a city instead of its rational street grids — we become more sensitive to our surroundings. [As Guy Debord says in his “Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography”: “The sudden change of ambiance in a street within the space of a few meters; the evident division of a city into zones of distinct psychic atmospheres; the path of least resistance that is automatically followed in aimless strolls (and which has no relation to the physical contour of the terrain); the appealing or repelling character of certain places.” Geography, then — that most concrete of propositions, to which we are bound — is reconfigurable and customizable through the imagination. Psychogeography can take many forms: One could create an alternate map of a city according to specific emotions, for example, mapping Paris not by arrondissement but by every place you’ve shed a tear. Or you could create a psychogeographic map of a city’s language by making a derive from point A to point B, writing down every word your eyes encounter on buildings, signage, parking meters, flyers and so forth. You’d end up with a trove of rich language, myriad in its tones and directives, comprised of peripheral words you’d most likely never paid attention to, such as the fine print on a parking meter.”
–Kenneth Goldsmith, Uncreative Writing (2011)

Posted by | Comments Off on There are infinite ways to experience a single place  | May 19, 2014
Category: Travel Quote of the Day

Comments are closed.