08.30.16 | Reading Response: Theory of the Dèrive

Based on my interpretation of the Theory of the Dèrive from the reading material assigned, in its most basic form, the concept appears to revolve around pathfinding as a vector in which one (or many) attempt to obtain a given level of objectivity through situational anarchy. In some ways, it almost seems like the Libertarian means of travel (or more specifically journeying) to a routine commute's Republicanism or a tourist travel's Democracy: it encourages a certain level of autonomy through atmospheres either known and/or unknown, and through human, subjective accounts, these people involved attempt to catalogue this information through some objective means via comparing their experiences. Psychogeography - the study of a geographical environment's effect on one's emotions and behavior - plays a large part.

The experience is paradoxical to some extent; the Bureau of Public Secrets passage likewise notes its nature as being inherently contradictory. The people involved are asked to adopt an almost ascetic understanding (or lack of understanding) of their surroundings, stripping themselves of their given routines or lifestyles at the time in favor of somehow distancing themselves from the situation enough to subtract their own personal feelings on their local environment to form an objective account, yet still staying in tune with themselves enough to know what those feelings and altered behaviors are, in order to form any sort of conclusion.

The easiest way I could describe it in more concrete terms would be personal echolocation - that is, someone uses their subjective thoughts, emotions, behaviors, etc. to get a feel for and understanding of a given space, and then use those signals that "bounce back" in order to shape a material form for that space. The area(s) in which the drift is performed can either be known or unknown, and the space in which it takes place can be a fixed size or be fluid - but the participants seem to be expected to hold a specific level of articulation towards their feelings from the experience, as well.

In terms of personally orchestrating a dèrive, I think I'd want to emotionally map out the networking between a handful of known spaces; given the area, most of my commutes are either on the highway or interstate to begin with, and I feel like "laying out" an objective account of areas like that would be more introspective and interesting than trying to map out the objectives of those commutes. I have plenty of thoughts and feelings attached to any number of areas here locally, but despite the relative consistency of my commutes around here I feel like my behaviors in given "destinations" tend to be more fixed than my experiences during the drives themselves. In fact, in terms of remembering specific experiences and tying feelings to them and whatnot, I'd even go as far as saying that most of my commuting experiences around here were probably situations I could recall more vividly than something like sitting at a Starbucks on a day off.