Dèrive

Everything Is Temporary exposes the mentality and physicality of a dèrive while allowing an interactive experience to its audience through a psycho-geographical map. A dèrive is a specific wandering through an urban area while remaining hyper vigilant towards personal attractions. A psycho-geographical map takes note of both physical and mental associations.

The original dèrive taken for Everything is Temporary was in and around the downtown of Lansing, Michigan, on September 8, 2016. However, many dèrives could be taken in the interim so that items may be added, subtracted, or simply moved throughout the piece. The psycho-geographical map is the outcome of said dèrive that encompasses both physical aspects and emotional capacities from the experience at hand.

The map is comprised of foam board that was adhered to a plan for Lansing back in 1921. The downtown area where the dèrive occurred was made larger and superimposed so that both maps are slightly transparent while the enlarged view was left in black and white. Objects were added to the map via straight pins that can be easily removed and reinserted. Everything attached to the map was left white with the exception of a chaotic cluster of spirals. This chaos represented chaos felt during the dèrive as well as a changing point in the dèrive itself. A few items were made from tracing paper while others were created from bristol board in order to help depict the journey and their own significance.

My main mediums are those that are affected by touch: three-dimensional sculpture. It is important to me that art be available and accessible to all. Along with the aforementioned reasons, it was important to me to build something that can change over time with the help of others because being social is part of a dèrive as well as part of great art. So often the public is shunned from art and lacks understanding as a byproduct. Making the audience a willing participant can give them a voice and an interest otherwise un had. This project became something I wanted to have shared in both a visual aspect and communal space. This is also why the bricks trail off the space. There is no end to this project because everything is temporary.