Dalston, Islington, and in-between - Psychogeography Experiment
Abhay Narasimhan | London | 17/05/25


Experiment: To perform a self-guided exploration of a relatively new part of London (Dalston, Islington and in between). I would let my momentary preferences guide the turns I made, the alleys I explored and the sites I stopped at. Freeballing it. For the duration of the morning of 17th May, I had no preconceived destination. Only that I had to be back at 11 AM to let my friend back into his own apartment - which, in hindsight, proved to be a heavy restriction on the freedom I had to wander.

Aim: To actualize my consciousness (whatever that means) and observe its materialisation in my walk through the physical landscape of North London. It is to unfold pieces of my being and see them manifest as people, places and time. (Which all combine to create my version of the ‘site’)

That said, I would also be performing some of the roles ascribed to a Rhythmanalyst (Lefebvre), who is attentive.. will listen to the world, and above all to what are disdainfully called noises, which are said without meaning, and to murmurs, full of meaning - and finally he will listen to silences. The Rhythmanalyst will not be obliged to jump from the inside to the outside of observed bodies; and understands their slowness, their interminable rhythm. [one] does not neglect smells, scents, the impressions that are so strong in a child and other living beings, which society atrophies, neutralises in order to arrive at the colourless, the odourless and the insensible. These are only the few duties attributed to the rhythm analyst, the roles I have underlined on my second reading of the book (Rhythmanalysis, Henri Lefebvre) - of which I still understand very little. 

Process: By consuming no form of digital input (Google, apple maps, etc.), and by using input only from the physical landscapes (aesthetics and semiotics). I had a camera with me to document my movements and capture any remarkable scenes, moments of strong psychogeographic intensities. Here, my documentation would read as a collection of powerful attractors (points) that produce a malleable urban fabric rather than a conventional 2D plane of defined paths and landmarks (points). And so, the [psychogeographic]-distance between two points becomes malleable, and the distance is determined by the weightages of each attractor point. 

Think about your daily trip to work—a familiar rhythm shaped by habit and purpose. One day, just before leaving, you decide to stop for breakfast along the way. That breakfast spot sits somewhere between home and work, but how you experience it depends on its role in your journey. If you’re going to continue on to work after eating, the stop feels brief and light—just a momentary pause. But if the breakfast stop is your final destination, it feels more significant, more 'weighted' in your mind. In the first scenario, the stop for a meal is registered as a lightly weighted attractor node than in scenario 2 where it is seen as the final stop, attributing to it increased weightage.

Thus, a kind of psychogeographic map is produced through empirical images and text. However, this map is personal to me, and cannot possibly be recreated, even by me.

I hope to illustrate that the material fabric of a space, as far as it is concerned, is a map too. For in a library, stacks you deem more important draw you to them, and the stacks with the architectural codes for concrete in california might mark the paths less travelled. 

Recordings: “I found out today that I did quite poorly in my final exams, which can have influenced my psyche. Soon, I met this 60 year old bloke - whose name was Real Badman (presumably on Facebook) - I didn’t inquire about his government name. He joined my walk for an hour or so. He was from East London and lived in several parts of Africa for a decade, making his living off of photographing birds and beasts. He now lived close to the area I was walking in, so he was familiar with the paths that we took. I think there, the map becomes the dynamic between the two people and what each of them wants from the world. He took me to get Samosas.
For those who aren’t afraid of everyday life, some maps for you.