Task 12 - A Map of a Place
Marie writes:
This task is inspired by a task that Maria Kapsali presented me with in the Two Trainers Prepare project, called A Word for a Place. I came to think of this task and how I engaged with it after a conversation we had about the surroundings we live in and what it means to inhabit a (for you) new area. Drawing on the practice of psychogeography, which explores the ‘urban environment and [...] emphasise[s] playfulness and "drifting"’, this task takes you on a walk. How do we navigate and understand the layout of a place when physically moving around in it? Psychogeography has links to the Situationist theory that ‘sees the situation as a tool for the liberation of everyday life, a method of negating the pervasive alienation that accompanie[s] the spectacle’. I am interested in your experience of the place you now live in and how you might see completely different aspects to it that I do. How will you engage with everyday objects that you encounter and how do you experience the intuitive navigation of a place? And how might a representation of this look?
Bearing in mind the above, this is your task 12:
Chose an area or neighbourhood (either in Horsens where we live or in Aarhus where you go to work) that you are unfamiliar with. This could be an urban, industrial or residential area. Allow yourself a timeframe of minimum an hour to explore this area (do not look at online maps!). Get lost and ‘drift’ around. While you do that you must:
- Find objects of a particular category of your own choice (this could be street signs, objects of the colour blue etc)
- Photograph (or in some way represent) these objects
On your return from your exploration, draw, make or compose a map that includes your (photographic) representations of your exploration while giving an idea of how you experienced the overall layout of the place you chose.