Workshops and Classes

Registration for The Theory of Dérive and Augmented Reality Workshop Led by Wael Kodeih

From Nov 29 to Dec 7, 2013
10:00am -> 8:00pm
Beirut Art Center

This workshop is open to sound artists, musicians, writers, photographers, video makers, visual artists, animators, and students in the arts. Guy Debord’s text “Theory of the Dérive” will lay the foundation for this workshop. The dérive which we will take will also involve the notion of ‘augmented reality.

“One of the basic situationist practices is the dérive [literally: “drifting”], a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances. Dérives involve playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psychogeographical effects, and are thus quite different from the classic notions of journey or stroll.” Guy Esnet Debord, Les lèvres nues, December 9, 1956

The dérive consists of traveling through urban space in an aleatory manner. One’s subjectivity is the central element. The dérive allows one to discover a metaphorical dimension to a space, and bestow it with a poetic value.However, going on a dérive in the city is not a neutral practice. On the one hand, a dérive consists of a tool to get to know bits of the city, and to experiment with one’s emotions within it. On the other, it allows for a criticism of urban society and its spatial anchorage, constituting as such a subversive project.

Date
December 9,10, and11 from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.

Language
English (depending on the participants)

Workshop Fee: $30

Maximum: 10 participants