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Networked Derive

Networked Derive is a collaborative performance that connects two geographically separate locations. Using mobile phones, Twitter streams and a simple mapping system, performers in both locations engage in a series of occupations that coincide with the movements through the other city. The piece draws from the strategy described by Guy Debord in his Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography (1955), where he recalls a friend using a map of London to navigate the mountainous Harz region of Germany. Taking a similar approach, Networked Derive uses paper maps containing one city per side, and positions them slightly askew. As each city reports its location to the other, the city receiving coordinates locates the spot on the map and—using a pushpin— makes a hole to the other side, turns the map over, and goes to that location. The new location is then reported back to the first city and the process continues. As users move from one location to another, each in their corresponding city, they form identical paths. Presented between Buffalo, NY and Weimar, Germany as part of the Media Architecture Colloquium, Department of Architecture, University at Buffalo.