Exquisite Dérive

[squirmelia]

Would anyone like to complete an Exquisite Dérive with me?

The instructions from SFZero are:

"Walk a short route alone, then send a collaborator the last segment of your trip so that they can pick up where you left off. You may complete this in separate cities by using more generic instructions (e.g. walk three blocks, then turn left). Finally, walk the complete route you and your collaborators have created."

Comments

[spiralsheep]

Yes, when I've used shared instructions before they've usually been based on spatial movement (i.e. first left, second right &c) and/or landmarks (towards the tallest thing, towards the red thing, change direction after the pub/newsagent/cafe &c) and/or scavenger hunting (keep going until you reach the park with the pond, read the sign and move in response &c).

As I've done this before, I'm fine with the person ahead of me generating ANY description of their walk so I can pick up the last few moves and walk on, although start/finish points are easier to locate via landmarks or utter randomness than spatial directions ime. I'm also fine with redescribing my walk in more/different detail, and answering any questions, so anyone following me can find a starting point for their leg of the journey.

[squirmelia]

I've not done this before, so any advice on how best to make this work would be appreciated!

Shared instructions based on spatial movement, landmarks or scavenger hunting sound like they would work.

[spiralsheep]

I think setting too many rules beforehand would make it more rather than less difficult. Each walker will vary in the emphases we bring to the walk in addition to the different spaces we'll be walking in, but we've all spoken to each other before so if we need to talk about anything during the handovers from each walker to the next then we can just ask each other whatever we need to know.

You could just decide on a maximum (with no minimum) time limit for each segment and then do the first walk (so it begins as your project in your place), decide which order the rest of us will walk in (not that it matters too much if we have to swap around because [reasons] ), and then assume you'll also do the last segment so you have an opportunity to receive change-over instructions (for the fun/interest of that experience). You can let each segment walker decide whether they want to walk a wholly spontaneous derive after their beginning point (as long as they note what they're doing enough to generate a set of instructions from it for the change-over point and next walker) or whether they want pre-generated instructions of some sort (which we already know all of us are capable of generating for ourselves or from asking someone else). I suppose you could pick an overall theme/title for the walk in advance, such as a colour or a common urban feature, and see if we all notice it or not while we're walking, if you want something other than pre-planned structure to bring possible coherence to the overall project? Or we could wait and see if a common theme happens spontaneously?

Any and every shared walk is always going to be experimental to some degree so we have to just try it and find out what happens. :-)

[nou]

I like this low-rules idea.