Drain: Psychogeography

The biannual online magazine "Drain" features in its current Psychogeography issue (October, 2008 - Vol. 5, No.2) some images from my "mixed messages" series. The magazine states about this issue:

In 1955, Guy Debord described psychogeography as “the study of the specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.” Debord’s psychogeographical map The Naked City (1957) challenged traditional ideas of mapping relating to scale, location, and fixity, and drew on the work of urban social geographer Paul-Henri Chombart de Lauwe’s concept of the city as a conglomeration of distinct quarters, each with its own special function, class divisions, and “physiognomy,” which linked the idea of the urban plan to the body. An important strategy of the pyschogeographical was the dèrive, “a technique of transient passage through varied ambiences”.

The ‘psychogeographical’ has had a pervasive if somewhat amorphous role in contemporary art and culture. As a creative, social and political tactic, wandering through psychogeographic spaces is pertinent to a diverse range of practices including the use of GPS systems, Internet art, photography as well as sound and performance art.

This issue of Drain has gathered a series of essays, artworks and creative writings to reflect upon the legacies of psychogeography and consider its current manifestations.

Book Cover

Slightly belated, Max Dorner's book "Lahme Ente in New York" will be published by Malik (at Piper Verlag) soon. My images of Max will be featured on the cover and flap. I think the cover design turned out quite nice.

The German monthly "Das Magazin" will run an excerpt of the book along with some additional images of mine in February 2009.

After 2 months ...

Finally, I get a chance to return with a couple updates after about two months of "silence". I had been off to Europe to get married and enjoy our honeymoon in Paris. Since our return to New York, things have been a bit crazy, but we hope for smooth sailing into the new year. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I have been working on the extended version of "Critical Distance". I have been invited by the Thuringian Visual Artists Association (Verband Bildender Künstler Thüringen) to have solo show under the same title next September in Erfurt.