Sarah Cullen and her projectConflux included another project that, like Theft and Rescue, exceeded my expectations. Sarah Cullen (of Toronto?) brought a unique mapping project, and probably the project that most resonated with my current conception of psychogeography.

The project is called The City as Written by the City. Sarah created wooden boxes with handles that a person could carry with them as they walked or biked through the neighborhood. Inside the box is a pendulum with a pencil on it. If you place a piece of paper at the bottom of the box, the pencil draws a “map” of your journey, varying with where and how you walk. It is a map created by a person’s interaction with their environment (and probably, to some extent, the slight variations in the boxes).

I liked the idea immediately, but the results blew my mind. Check out these two maps by my friends Omar and Julie, who took the same walk and ended up with these two totally different but equally beautiful results:

(Omar’s map)

omar's work

(Julie’s Map)

julie's work

The artists (in collaboration with The City):
julie and her work omar and his work