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Psy.Geo.Conflux, launched in 2003, is an annual event produced by Glowlab dedicated to current artistic and social investigations in psychogeography (the study of the effects of the geographic environment on the emotions and behavior of individuals). Part festival and part conference, it brings visual and sound artists, writers, urban adventurers and the public together in New York to explore the physical and psychological landscape of the city.
Psy.Geo.Conflux 2003 took place on New York's Lower East Side in May. Our intention was to explore the various ways in which artists, writers, and theorists are interpreting the idea of psychogeography today, at a time when the paper maps used in early dérives have been supplemented by mobile phones, GPS systems, and advanced field-recording techniques. The event, held in and around the collectively run art space ABC No Rio, featured eight different walks around the city using a variety of navigational principles; a neighborhood-sized chess game using humans as pieces; a public audio blog constructed from mobile-phone messages; an art exhibition featuring work in a number of media, some of it interactive; live music performances incorporating environmental sound recordings; and an unauthorized "noise parade" through the neighborhood that brought hundreds of baffled but excited residents pouring out into the streets. The response to the Conflux was overwhelmingly positive, and the turnout was gratifyingly large, reflecting the explosion in interest in psychogeography that has taken place in the past few years. The Conflux was sponsored in part by Artists Space (Independent Project Grant), and the exhibition funded in part by NYSCA :: New York State Council on the Arts.
Psy.Geo.Conflux 2004 will feature a full program of events over the course of four days, including experimental walks using altered maps and navigational aids; high-tech drifts through the city using wearable computing devices; a human-scale chess game to take place in Times Square; a walking presentation of an urban documentary project commissioned by the New Museum of Contemporary Art; a series of temporary installations, lectures, audio and video works and more. The second annual event will take place at PARTICIPANT INC non-profit arts center on the Lower East Side. The Conflux is again sponsored in part by Artists Space (Independent Project Grant).
additional information
2003 Conflux:
Psy.Geo.Conflux photographs
Village Voice
May 07, 2003
"Psychogeographers Navigate New York City's Changing Landscape"
by Bryan Zimmerman
New York Times
May 12, 2003
"Street Artists, Fighting Over Gentrified Streets" [.pdf]
by Corey Kilgannon
Transfert.net
May 05, 2003
"Festival Psy-Geo-Conflux: New York, moi et mon portable"
by Chantal Dussuel
AM Guide [Spain]
October 2003
"New York Psy.Geo.Conflux: The Pedestrians Recover the City"
by Bernardo Sagatsume