M Derive: A Psychogeographical Project Proposal

Last year I participated in a short derive organised by 1st year Fine Arts students. It stood out as one of the highlights of the Unit X section of the year. In the back of my mind, ever since that event, I have had the idea to explore and research more fully the notion of the derive, and in particular to take on the practice of the derive in the city of Manchester. A lot of current British psychogeographical writing is centred on London (although Ian Sinclair has done work in Manchester). So my project title ‘M Derive’ refers to Manchester. I’m considering researching derives in the different postal areas of Manchester. So the body of work could be an ongoing process: M1 Derive, M2 Derive etc.

Research:

I intend to explore the idea that Psychogeography has a two-fold nature –…