*The DériveThe Purpose and Meaning

*The Dérive

 

A dérive is an attempt at analysis of the totality of everyday life,

through the passive movement through space. It is translated

as drift…

…A technique of rapid passage through

varied ambiences

Definition

*The Dérive

Debord states that a derive is a technique in which we allow ourselves to undertake a fast journey throughvarious ambiences.

  “In the field of culture Situationists wanted to break down the division between artists and consumers and make cultural production a part of everyday life. Situationist ideas played an important role in the revolutionary Paris events of 1968.”

The Origin of the dérive

*The DériveParis

"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 Dérive

City of Romance – what makes it romantic?

Myth or Cliché?

*The Dérive

On both the preparatory dérive and our planned one for Paris, one of the aspects we shall be looking at is the representation

of the old and new

*The DériveWe shall also be looking at

how the media represents

the city and how that differs

to reality.

*The DérivePrimary Sources

Photographic Camera

Video Camera

*The DériveMethodology

“Using film, picture or other various techniques to capture a derive, you allow yourself to take a journey to discover a city”

“We planned a standardised walk around Coventry, using the relevant technologies to capture what we saw”

*The DériveSecondary Sources

“But from any standpoint other than that of facilitating police

control, Haussmann’s Paris is a city built by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” (Debord)

*The DériveAnalysis

“It contains a large number of short publications

from 1958 to 1969 which were important and

closely related to Paris and the changes it was

undergoing. It comprises opinions and reactions to

this change, merging as a unified struggle of voices

towards a better city.” Knabb, K. 2006., Situationist International Anthology (1981) USA: AK Press

*The Dérive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXzbS79lXqo

*The DériveAnalysing the Footage

“In a dérive one or more persons

during a certain period drop their

relations, their work and leisure

activities, and all their other usual

motives for movement and action,

and let themselves be drawn by the

attractions of the terrain and the

encounters they find there.”

(Debord)

*The DériveContinued…

“Men can see nothing around them that is not their own image;

everything speaks to them of themselves. Their very landscape

is alive.”

*The DériveEvaluating the Experience

“We want to ask questions that can answer why the cities function

in the way they do in terms of Culture and Attitude. Looking at both

of the cities pasts could be an ideal way of finding out.”

*The DériveEvaluating the Experience

“We will investigate how from Paris being a

pivotal head quarters for the French revolution

in 1789, to Coventry’s role in the 2nd World

War; being destroyed by German bombers 70

years ago last month, before rising up and

sustaining their output of military machines in

a time of need. We know believe”

*The DériveEvaluating the Experience

“We believe Paris as a city is represented in popular media forms such as film, literature and music as something it may not be. Asking questions such as ‘Why is Coventry not represented in the same way?’”

“The photo’s from our Derive show Coventry as a cold, hard-working industrial city.”