Explaination of my Idea

Whilst reading lots of things about physchogeography, I realised how much it ties in with Parkour. A traceur has to respond and adapt thier movements to thier enviroment, being competely aware of thier surroundings.

"Parkour is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, using principally the abilities of the human body. It is meant to help one overcome obstacles, which can be anything in the surrounding environment — from branches and rocks to rails and concrete walls — and can be practiced in both rural and urban areas."

I thought it wuold be interesting if I could make the urban enviroment respond to the traceur - as well as te traceur responding to the enviroment. I'm going to make a short video tracking a run, where the surrondings are changing and responding to the movemets of the traceur.

interesting quotes

"Reality, as it evolves, sweeps me with it. I am struck by everything and, though not everything strikes me in the same wa, i am always struck by the same basic contradiction; although i can always see how beuatiful anything could be if oly i could change it, in practically every case ther is noghting i can really do. Everything is changed into something else in my imagination, then the dead wieght of things changes it back into what it was in the first place. A bridge between imagination and reality must be biult."

The Revolution of Everyday Life, Roaul Vaneigem, 1967

About psychogeography- takes pedestrians off thier predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.

"All space is occupied by the enemy. We are living under a permanent curfew. Not just the cops – the geometry."

Manifesto of Unitary Urbanism, Roaul Vaneigem

"-understand their location, and therefore thier existance" -?!

"architectural performance."

"pedestrian exploration of the urban and suburban landscape."

The following quotes are from Formulary for a New Urbanism, Ivan Chtcheglov, 1963;

"Our imaginations, haunted by the old archetypes, have remained far behind the sophistication of the machines."

"Closed landscapes"

"integrate modern science into new myths remain inadequate"

"Darkness and obscurity are banished by artificial lighting"

"Architecture is the simplest means of articulating time and space, of modulating reality and engendering dreams."

"Architectural complexes will be modifiable. Their appearance will change totally or partially in accordance with the will of their inhabitants"

"This need for total creation has always been intimately associated with the need to play with architecture, time and space."

"the absence of the object becomes a presence one can feel." - of de chiricos work

"The changing of landscapes from one hour to the next will result in total disorientation."

The following quotes are from Theory of the Dérive, Guy-Ernest Debord;

"In a dérive, 1 or more persons drop usual motives for movement and action and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there."

"When freedom is practiced in a closed circle, it fades into a dream, becomes a mere image of itself. The ambiance of play is by nature unstable. At any moment, "ordinary life" may prevail once again. The geographical limitation of play is even more striking than its temporal limitation. Every game takes place within the boundaries of its own spatial domain."

"playful-constructive behaviour."

"-cities have psychogeographical contours, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes thats trongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones."

"People can see nothing around them that is not their own image; everything speaks to them of themselves. Their very landscape is animated. Obstacles were everywhere. And they were all interrelated, maintaining a unified reign of poverty."

(Debord quoting Marx)

one dot zero

I watched a short video of the hightlights from a one dot zero dvd. I'm going to look at the actual dvd when I can but in the mean time, these are the ideas I liked in what I have seen so far and some that have influenced my idea;

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY

After looking at Opus 4 (walter Ruttmann, 1925), I went into town at night to take photos for an animation. Out of the photos I took, I chose to use this one first;

I was looking for interesting shapes and patterns with bright lights that created contrast. I wanted to recreatea similar sort of effect as in Opus 4 but by using existing forms rather than abstract ones.