GROUP EXHIBITION

In the 1950’s, the theorist Guy Debord defined the term psychogeography to represent ‘the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.’¹ Bringing together an eclectic mix of 29 works across a variety of media, this exhibition examines the intersecting area between psychology and geography.

There is an element of chance, discovery and adventure involved in Debord’s structure for psychogeography–the notion that even the most familiar of places still withhold surprises, the uncovering of which offers a greater understanding of personal ontologies. A number of published psychogeographical games called on participants to intervene on their regular journeys, or new navigations, by altering the prescribed route or transposing maps from different regions. The resulting disruptions were intended to facilitate an ‘insubordination to habitual influences’,^1 ^in turn allowing for a liberating sense of discovery.

The process of navigating through an environment offers a variety of outcomes and responses. For the artists featured in A New Way of Walking, there are a number of different enquiries at play; an attempt to understand the infinite in nature (Celmins, Smith); awareness through applied materiality (Shiraga, Martinez, Hüller); alchemical application of quotidian materials and objects (de la Mora, Meckseper, Tàpies, Prince); using a reduced figurative language to transmit psychological states (Dubuffet, Guston). Underlying each of these approaches is a paramount investigation into the metaphysics of individual existence, specifically in relation to the macrocosm.

1 - Guy-Ernest Debord, Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography, 1955