Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Head Shop >

Psychogeography: the origins of the theory

The Return Of Rothkoid

21:36 / 17.07.01

I posted a plea in the Magick, but thought it might be useful to bring it in here. I'm looking for some pointers as to the origin of psychogeography; in particular, what the theories behind it are, and where they come from. Is it situationist? Whose philosophy/theorising does it spring from? Anyone care to serve up a potted history? I'm really keen to learn more about the field, but want to know the constructs behind it, before I launch into the worlds of Moore, Moorcock and Sinclair...

Any clues?

10:04 / 18.07.01

This is going to be a quick, off-the-top-of-my-head response, I hope it helps. Psychogeography is a term originally used by the Situationist International, or possibly the Lettrist International (one of the two groups who merged to form the SI). The first psychogeographical text (although it doesn't use the word) is (then pre-SI member) Ivan Chtcheglov's "Formulary for a New Urbanism" from the early 50s. It's based on vaguely post-Dada/surrealist ideas about urban space; specifically, that cities consist of qualitatively different emotional/affective spaces. The idea of psychogeography, in its Situationist form, is that revolutionaries should experiment with these urban ambiances, with the goal of reorganising social space in radical ways. Against the banal capitalist cities which existed to stabilise economic relations of exploitation, the SI wanted to produce mad, exotic cities full of adventure and weird emotions. They considered this a fully materialist project, without occult connotations (although Chtcheglov's text sports a number of mystical allusions, i.e. the opening line "We are bored in the city, there is no longer any Temple of the Sun". Incidentally, can any magick-types explain the temple of the sun reference for me?)

The idea fell out of favour around the time of the SI's break into (basically) French and Scandinavian sections in the 60s. It was taken up again in the 90s by the London Psychogeographical Association (one guy, I think), who combined situ ideas with a more occult interest drawing on ley lines, Iain Sinclair's book on London, "Lud Heat", etc.

According to the SI, the word psychogeography was suggested by "an illiterate kabyle".

For info on the SI-version, try The Situationist International Anthology, edited by Ken Knabb. It's got the Chtcheglov and a ton of SI writings on the concept. For the 90s version, track down the actual LPA publications (difficult for those of us not in the UK) or get Stewart Home's Mind Invaders.

15:15 / 18.07.01

Temple of the Sun: http://www.tintin.be/Inspiration/page2_fr.htm

Early religious architecture website.

This guy's tourist photos might also give you an idea.

it's the big thing in the middle of Chichen Itza. I'm not sure, but I think other Mayan sites are similarly oriented around a vast, central pyramid.

[ 18-07-2001: Message edited by: grant ]

15:23 / 18.07.01

Surrealists were apparently big on mapping out "sites of desire" within a city, too.

10:35 / 22.07.01

The Chtcheglov essay (and SI theory in general) explicitly draws on that surrealist current. Without knowing much about it, it seems like the big difference is that the SI didn't just want to look at/cultivate the nice parts of the city. They were as keen to discover and proliferate terrifying enclaves and violent quarters as they were "streets were it would be impossible not to fall in love".

The Chtcheglov essay is here, from a good selection of online situationist texts, including several good introductions. Does anybody want to discuss situationist theory in general? I'm up for it...

17:41 / 23.07.01

I'd like to know how much the idea of psychogeography got absorbed into disiplines like architecture and urban planning....

All Acting Regiment

11:14 / 05.05.05

...the banal capitalist cities which existed to stabilise economic relations of exploitation, the SI wanted to produce mad, exotic cities full of adventure and weird emotions...

...like to know how much the idea of psychogeography got absorbed into disiplines like architecture and urban planning....

Roughly:

LeCorbusier was interested in making machines for living, and some of the Pre-war architectural ideas were pretty radical, in some ways. However, seeing as a lot of it was influenced by Futurist art it tended to be bought up by the Fascists. But there were good examples. There were going to be cities in glass domes on the Alps. Then the war came.

Since then we haven't really had enough money to experiment with making fun cities, have we? Maybe we have recently but it's always gone into making more of that banal,capitalist stuff.

Things like Affleck's palace in Manchester with "the giant saxophone, camel made out of tobacco and all the mad mosaics of popes and stuff" represent a move in the situationist direction. But...that place is essentially a big shop, whatever else it might be.

04:33 / 12.05.05

i would think first nation peoples like the australian aborgines were the first to inaugurate a concept of 'psychogeography.'

"The creation story and all of human life can be mapped on the landscape. It is rich in spiritual meaning. Certain features mark the presence of ancestral beings. Dreamtime spirits exist in valleys, mountains, rocks and trees. They form a part of natural environmental processes. They also give knowledge of the country to those who inherit the land from them. Aboriginal people signify inheritance rights by painting images of particular land tracts.

There are no horizon lines visible in traditional Aboriginal art. No separation of the western concepts of heaven and earth. The spiritual world and the landscape are one. Traditional Aboriginal art allows for multiple and simultaneous interpretations. Understanding will depend on the viewer’s spiritual knowledge. Artists will not reveal sacred meanings of designs to the uninitiated."

taken from a very basic site. no doubt more in-depth academic style info can be dredged up by those wishing to know more.

07:07 / 12.05.05

i imagine the important bit about the temple of the sun is that its the temple where they apocryphally cut out live hearts. its one pole of some kind of observatory; the other is the temple of the moon; between the two temples was an artificial lake. a plausible theory is that the pool was used to observe seismic disturbances and perhaps tide cycles.

ok, so i dont quite understand the concept of psychogeography. or maybe i do, and i dont know it yet.

would graffiti count as psychogeographic work? because it deploys verbal meaning and synchronicity into a particular space? this seems situationist: creating a spectacle in place of meaninglessness/routine.

does the distribution of different species of trees in a city afford a multilayered psychogeographic web? because changes in shade, smell, colour, and sympathetic species affects passers by both blatantly and below the conscious threshold? because each species is (esoterically) connected to its geographic origin, and so stands in for the receiving end of a wormhole/ley line?

is topography of hills and buildings a foundation of psychogeography? because altitude is an important factor in landmarks, as well as forming barriers and edges? so is it relevant to talk about kevin lynchs theory of place legibility, aka 'city as text'?

All Acting Regiment

09:12 / 12.05.05

would graffiti/trees count as psychogeographic work? because it deploys verbal meaning and synchronicity into a particular space? this seems situationist: creating a spectacle in place of meaninglessness/routine.

Having visited Berlin recently, I have to say yes- within the city centre everything's shiny glass and skyscrapers, with a massive stepped square leading down to the river. The main tube station is particularly impressive, a huge block with all these different overhead railway lines leading into it. Then you've got amazing 19th century piles like the Reichstag and the Trade Hall distributed throughout.

However, once you step out into the bedsit areas, it's a different story altogether. Where buildings were destroyed in the past, often they've planted trees instead of rebuilding- and there's parks on just about every block. Imagine London if half the buildings were small gardens, and more trees on the pavements.

Add to this the immense layers of graffitti and it's a bizarre, beautiful experience- these lurid coloured letters of all different sizes in between these trees. It's like pure information, natural and human, flowing round the streets.

15:06 / 12.05.05

I vaguely recall that for the French surrealists, the Parisian flea markets were really important. Same sort of seemingly temporary or organic/non-building structure that was an important part of the desire-city.

All Acting Regiment

10:17 / 13.05.05

I think the reason a person on a similar wavelength to us finds graffiti pleasing is probably because it's evidence of life as a process, isn't it?

The Roman ruins, or, once realised, Speer's plans for the Berlin of the Third Reich, are evidence of one ruler's idea of control or domination, stamped on the land and never to be changed, whereas Graffiti seems more like a constantly evolving multi-author text/image work, changing with the times and with the people(remind anyone of the internet?). Grafitti being there shows us that many other people have been there, that we're not alone.

In the very early days of the Soviet union, when the Russian revolution was still a revolution, various ex-Dada artists (Kandinsky et al) were employed to design agitprop posters and statues to be dotted around Russia- the famous "Red Wedge", even abstract sculptures given out to replace religious Ikons in people's homes.

One of the most interesting ideas to come out of this was the revolving steel and glass tower planned for St Petersburg as a monument to the ongoing revolution. The idea was that as it collapsed, expanded and revolved, it would stand as a riposte to the immobile, patriarchal hulk of the Pyramids or the Reichstag, representing the fluid, evolving nature of Communism against Fascism. A model of it was made and carried through the streets.

They ran out of materials, though, and the real version was never built. By the time Stalin the dictator got into power, he had the plans scrapped and went back to building ugly neoclassical edifices.

10:54 / 13.05.05

sherman
would graffiti count as psychogeographic work? because it deploys verbal meaning and synchronicity into a particular space? this seems situationist: creating a spectacle in place of meaninglessness/routine.

The word you probably mean instead of spectacle is situation.

Graffiti, like MCing, can work both ways. It can be a manifestation of the artist's reality (representing) but it can also be a lumpen version of advertizing (e.g. tagging your name everywhere, which is like MCing all about your big dick ego). I used to tag my name because I wanted to make a name for myself but I stopped because I decided it was selfish. A true graffiti artist is definitely working within psychogeography, the perception of space and so on.

I like the link you posted, it made me think about the way I perceive my neighbourhood.

Legba
That stuff about the Soviet Union reminds of the anarchists in Barcelona, I read that they melted all the church bells and used the metal in the factories, then they used the churches for other things (like community centres & factories if i remember right).

About graffiti being transient, that is a positive thing but I think if there is a good piece other writers should respect it and not go over it (especially if they are going to just make an ugly silver tag over a piece that took hours). There are essays in Upski's book Bomb The Suburbs about this kind of graffiti-ethics.

Charlie's Horse

03:08 / 16.05.05

Graffiti is such a wonderful effect of psychogeography, as though all the minute emotional details of a place are the neurons firing, and the spraypainted words are the thoughts which emerge. My old hometown - a tiny place in rural Georgia - had 'Life is elsewhere' spraypainted on a particular building in the downtown. That was my high-school mantra. Here in Athens (GA), people put down everything from thoughtprovoking ('Are you a good idea?') to the surreal ('Does this place feel haunted to you? Look Closer') to prophetic ('Man Down - 2006'). The thoughts of a place writ large in dripping letters.

There's actually a more tech-saavy version of this available here. These folks seem like the real deal, as far as representing the true emotional geography of a place, though that doesn't mean that everyone involved will. Still, it's a hell of a setup, potentially turning cities into 'find the meaning/beauty/best burrito' treasure hunts, if seperating the actual words tagged onto a place from that place doesn't screw over the fundamental idea of writing on the walls. My verdict is still out.