Clandestine Gardens: I applied today for Conflux 2009.. some of the writing they suggested you read on psychogeography was very inspirational and would like to learn more about the Situationists.
But here are some quotes I took:
"The erotic charge of psychogeography was undeniable, the rousing sexual conquest of having fully explored and overcome the exoticism of the city – this was accentuated by a famous piece of situationist graffiti, "I came in the cobblestones." The SI promised, "We will play upon topophobia and create a topophilia."
Here is my proposal and a bunch of stream of concious notes I took for the project:
Clandestine Garden will be located in Fort Washington Park at the site of a fatal car crash near the Henry Hudson Parkway. Using this debris left behind, relocated plants and other items I will create a feral garden installation suggesting violence and beauty of the space, a pilgrimage site. A platform from branches will allow visitors to spend time here. Solar lights will be set up for visiting at night. A journey must be made through the thick wooded area to gain access to the temple. Fear is overcome. The lure of the space fills the visitor and they react accordingly. Whatever inspiration comes to mind…Pray, meditate, plant flowers, paint, have sex, have a picnic, write a poem, whatever comes to mind and to document their experience through photos, video or writing which they will be encouraged to share online. A website with a link to Twitter, Facebook and email will be set up to document each visitors experience, turning topophobia into topophila.
and some further thoughts:
In areas such as heavily rustic and overgrown parkland, which is further isolated by the abrupt cut of a highway and a tangle of cloverleaf overpasses a sense of forboding and phobia is to be expected…
Areas so isolated that the debris of fatal car crashes are left behind, as if the quick pace of disentigration will take back our man-made objects that much sooner in such a remote area..
Sites of extreme violence have always been places where people have visited. A sort of distopic tourist destination.. they hold a powerful emotional reaction… a room becomes imbued with ghosts, the imagination of what had happened there takes hold. Gettysburg, Aushcwistz, Ground Zero are now all major tourist attractions. Platforms are erected, displays of that violence are shown.
The sites of fatal car crashes are similar in feel, but become more personal in nature. Fake flowers, teddy bears, large ribbons, crudely made crosses and sign posts indicate dates and names of the victims.
The insanity and disbelief of such thick and overwhelming nature… let loose and uncontrolled in the largest city in America.
But we are in Manhattan… the screech of cars is terribly close.. like the rush of fast flowing river, but mechanical and not as soothing…
These wooded places are places of crime, violence, and sexual tension.. a location for a prostitute to take her john, a gay meetup place, or a perfect location for predatory rapist. It holds some privacy, but also holds the sexual tension of being “caught” in public, the added danger of being seen and exhibitionism. There is also the air, the trees, the brambles, the thorms, the dirt, the rock edges, the discomfort, that harkens back to a more primitive experience of our sexuality… something only remembered on the cellular level till we re-enter these spaces and feel the lure of freedom
Hester Pryne lets down her hair and loosens her bodice as she enters the woods…
