“Dérive(s)” Exhibition
Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery
This event has ended.
Dérive(s) is a simple French word that has been transformed into an internationally recognized concept through the writings of Guy Debord. According to the original definition, a dérive is a “drift” or “drifting”, an act of departing from a given direction. Thus to drift in the wind for example, or in any current - there is a suggestion of passivity, or surrender, in the word. But according to Debord, the dérive takes on a different dimension; in his 1958 Theory of the Dérive, Debord redefines the act as “a playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psychogeographical effects”. Debord turns dérive from an innocuous verb into a philosophical concept, a poetic attitude toward life, and above all a revolutionary mode of action.
A dérive combines a sense of letting-go with its flow of acts, its gestures, its strolls, its encounters. A dérive requires a sense of adventurousness, a willingness to explore an unknown environment, as well as a temporary suspension of day-to-day relations, work and leisure activities. The dérive exists outside of one’s typical mode of engagement with the world and as such constitutes a “socio-emotional” gesture. The derivers are simultaneously influenced by the urban environment while they struggle against it through artistic production, imagination and play.
Media
Schedule
from January 10, 2015 to February 14, 2015
Opening Reception on 2015-01-10 from 18:00 to 20:00