CALL FOR PAPERS

Drain Magazine, August 2008: "Psychogeography"

Drain is a refereed online journal published biannually. The journal
seeks to promote lively and well-informed debate around theory and
praxis. Each issue of Drain will have a specific concept that it
explores.

In 1955, Guy Debord described psychogeography as “the study of the
specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized
or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.” Debord’s
psychogeographical map The Naked City (1957) challenged traditional
ideas of mapping relating to scale, location, and fixity, and drew on
the work of urban social geographer Paul-Henri Chombart de Lauwe’s
concept of the city as a conglomeration of distinct quarters, each with
its own special function, class divisions, and “physiognomy,” which
linked the idea of the urban plan to the body. An important strategy of
the pyschogeographical was the dérive, “a technique of transient passage
through varied ambiences”.

The ‘psychogeographical’ has had a pervasive if somewhat amorphous role
in contemporary art and culture. As a creative, social and political
tactic, wandering through psychogeographic spaces is pertinent to a
diverse range of practices including the use of GPS systems, Internet
art, photography as well as sound and performance art.
This issue of Drain attempts to gather a series of essays, artworks and
creative writings that reflect on the current state of psychogeography.
How have contemporary artists, writers and thinkers interpreted, or been
influenced by, the legacy of psychogeography?

Abstract deadline: April 1, 2008
Submission deadline: June 1, 2008
Launch: August 1, 2008

Contact: Celinadrainmag.com
http://www.drainmag.com