4 days of performance
Created and performed with Morgan Esmingeot.
Inspired by Situationist theorist Guy Debord’s Theory of the Dérive, we decided to transpose his geographical drift proposal into an urban traffic setting through the practice of hitchhiking. According to his own worlds, a dérive is «a mode of experimental behaviour linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances».
At first, we drew a line linking our starting point, which was my school in Aix-en-Provence to our goal, which was Morgan’ school in Marseille. But every time we hitchhiked, we accompanied the driver until his final destination and hitchhiked again at the very position he left us, in the direction showed by our magnetic compass. But a compass does not take into account the winding roads designed by men. The driver’s pathway became our drift, leading us farther away from our own destination, which we never reached.
This performance is composed of four continual days travelling from 8 a.m until sundown and results in an interactive map. One could easily observe the map’s drawing while tracking our movement by flashing the QR code system we leave along the way.
Florine Mougel 