DÉTOUR RESEARCH 

09-10.2022

Project realized for MOtelMOzaique Festival, including a guided walking tour with spatial landmarks representing the festival. Design focused on the ephemerality of architecture, one that is designed to exist for a short period and then disappears, providing a fleeting experience and leaving behind a memory.

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY

• areas have indirect contours influenced by many factors, which create currents, fixed points and vortexes
  
• those factors limit ones’ movement to specific regions with little chance of getting out
  
• e.g. barrier of housing districts surrounding city center discourages visitors to go through it to another region, which might be more interesting than commercial center
  
• smart randomness: deriver is in control of influencing factors
  
• people will be drawn to familiar things and make derive subjective
  
• it is easy to fixate around new „habitual axes” in order to find comfort
  
• principal axes of passage, their exits and defences
  
• distances between two regions measured by influences on the way
  
• separation points
  
  

PARTICIPANTS

• individual derive is possible, but deriver might easily lose the focus on their journey
  
• optimal group quantity is 2-3 persons of similar level of awarensess. They can cooperate smoothly and understand each others observations while keeping track od common goal. The collective analisys helps with objectiveness.
  
• groups bigger than 10-12 tend to part into separate smaller derives of different points of focus
  
• 4-5 participants group is more difficult in terms od understanding and communication, anso chances of distraction, but still possible to derive together. +more diversity
  
• difficult for someone who doesn’t know the city, more subjective and less valuable - this person is prone to commercial factors -> needs some help, better guidance?

TIMING

• between two periods of sleep
  
• in the best efficiency moment
  
• skipping breaks for basic needs - too much distraction
  
• last hours of night generally unsuitable for derives - 21-24/2-6?
  
• fatigue doesn’t work well while deriving
  
• pure form of derive is impossible to achieve, but well rested and fresh, open minded participants have better chance of focusing
  

WEATHER

• influence of weather in derives is significant for the outcome
  
• only no-go weather factor is prolonged rains
  
• suddden weather changes might positively affect the observations of participats, diversify viewpoints
  

FIELD OF DERIVE

• specified terrain for study purposes
  
• vague for an emtional journey
  
• meeting place as very important factor, influencing further observations
  
• who determines the meeting point?
  

„POSSIBLE RENDEZ-VOUS“

• element of a suprise, attraction to the unknown
  
• social stimulation, anticipation
  
• openness to new acquaintances, possibility of meeting new people
  
• behavioral disorientation
  
• constant anticipation
  
• time and place of meeting might determine target group of passerby and the atmosphere of conversations