dérive exercise - pierre jeanneret house, chandigarh

Derive - Pierre Jeanneret House

Our derive took place in Pierre Jeanneret's residential home. While visitng his abandoned house, we''ve decided to compare between different living approaches: we've asked two groups of first year students to furnish the house as they saw fit (giving every room a program of use) using items which we had given them. In addition, we've documented by film an identical house which nowadays is owned by a wealthy family and  done research about Pierre Jeanneret's way of living in this house.

Kritika Dhupar, Aya Salalha, Lior Skoury, Nitzan Noy

Derive in the Gandhi Bhawan, Punjab University, Chandigarh

The Gandhi Bhawan is located in the Punjab Uni. campus in Chandigarh, and serves the Gandhian Studies department students.

The building was planned by Pierre Jeanneret, and consists of three major programs: a library, an auditorium and a conference room. 

The building is situated as a monument in the campus, surrounded by a little pond, and seems deserted while no one comes in or out.

While visiting the building, we've noticed it's many private hiding places and therefore decided to play hide and seek during our derive. Some can say that the building's architecture of curved walls and hidden corners doesn't suit Gandhi's outward way of life.

attached a collage out of panoramic photos which we took from our different hiding places.

Where do the homeless shower?

in between six landmarks d'erive - video

in between six landmarks d'erive - Windmill panoramic view

Close your eyes. Enjoy our dérive

Click to listen !

Dérive YES.A

Text : How we feel the " dérive " ?

האם כאשר אנחנו יוצאים מביתנו, אנחנו יודעים לאן אנחנו הולכים? לאן אנחנו נגיע? האם אנחנו חופשיים ללכת בכל דרך שקיימת בעיר? האם אנחנו חופשיים ללכת לכל מקום בעיר? האם הרגליים הן אלו שמוליכות אותנו או דווקא המבט הוא זה שקובע? אינטואיציות או החלטות רציונליות? האם אפשר ללכת ללא מטרה? האם אפשר פשוט ללכת בעיר בלי לעשות דבר? לאיפה אני הולך? מה אני עושה? איך אני מחליט לאיזה כיוון ללכת בלי להחליט לאיזה כיוון ללכת? הרבה שאלות, מעט תשובות.

החוויה שלי בשוטטות בעיר נתקלה בסוג של קונפליקט, אני הולך למקום מסוים אך מנגד לא יודע מה הוא המקום אליו אני הולך. אני מקבל החלטה אם לפנות שמאלה או ימינה ובו זמנית מנסה לא להחליט וממשיך ישר. מין שילוב של אינטואיציה ורציונליות, סקרנות והרפתקנות, אינסטינקטים ותחושות. בהתחלה זה לא קל - ללכת בלי לדעת לאן. המחשבה נוקשה ולא משחררת. אתה מנסה לנוע בחופשיות, אך ברור לך שאתה לא לגמרי חופשי בעיר. בסופו של דבר העיר מכתיבה לנו דרכים ומסלולים שרובם תוכננו ועוצבו על מנת לנתב אותנו, את תושבי העיר, במרחביה.

אך ככל שהזמן עובר אתה נותן לעצמך להיכנס לתוך העולם הזה שבו המהלך הוא העיקר, אין נקודה ועוד נקודה, יש את מה שעובר ביניהם. אתה נותן מקום לאקראיות. אתה נותן מקום לסקרנות. אתה נותן מקום לתחושות בכך שאתה סופג, חווה ומקבל את מה שקורה סביבך. ההתבוננות שלך סביב והמבט שאינו מונע ממטרה ברורה נותנים לך לראות דברים שבדרך כלל לא היית מבחין בהם. החשיבות משתנה, זה כבר לא היעד, זאת הדרך. זו יכולה להיות סמטה חשוכה או חדר מדרגות שמשהו שם מושך אותך, אתה נותן לעצמך להיסחף לתוכם, להיכנס אל העולם של אי הוודאות. השלמה עם הסיטואציה הקיימת, במקום שבו אתה נמצא וכפי שאתה חווה אותה באותו הרגע בדיוק.

When we go out from our homes, do we know where we are going? Where will we end up? Are we free to choose any path we please? Are we free to walk anywhere in the city? Is it our feet that lead us or our gaze? Is our decision based on Intuition or rational? Is it possible to go without a goal? Is it possible to just walk without engaging in something? Where am I going? What do I do? How do I decide which way to go without deciding which way to go? A lot of questions, yet we have few answers.

My experience roaming the city encountered a conflict. I'm going to a certain place, but on the other hand I don’t know the place I’m going to.
I make a decision whether to turn left or right and at the same time trying not to decide and just continue straight on. It’s a combination of intuition and rationality, curiosity and adventure, instincts and feelings. At first it’s not easy - going without knowing where .it’s a Rigid and unliberating thought. You try to move freely, but clearly you’re not entirely free in the city. Eventually the city dictates to us the roads and tracks, most of which were designed to redirect us, the restrictions of the city space.

The more time that passes you allow yourself to enter into this world where the course is the essence, there is no point and another point, it’s what passes between them. You give way to serendipity. You give way to curiosity. You give way to your feelings by absorbing, experiencing and accepting what is happening around you. The observation you make and your stare that is not motivated from a particular goal which permits you to see things that otherwise you would of not notice. Importance varies, it’s no longer the destination that matters, it's the way. It can be a dark alley or a stairway which has something that appeals to you, you allow yourself to drift into them, to enter into the world of uncertainty. It is the Acceptance of the existing situation, where you are and as you experience it in that very moment.

Yoed

Marcher sans but, laisser une place au hasard, ne pas tout prévoir.

Avoir des millions de questions, des questions sans réponses. Ne pas avoir de réponses, accepter de ne pas en avoir.

Alors que le propre de l’homme est de tout organiser, de tout prévoir, d’optimiser son temps pour avoir une journée « rentable ». Ne pas laisser de place au hasard tout simplement.

Expérimenter la ville, se l’approprier. Apprendre à l’observer et non pas juste à la regarder. Prendre le temps d’observer les passants, les chats, les poubelles qui se remplissent, qui se vident. Observer les touristes qui achètent des souvenirs …

Comment est-il possible d’acheter un souvenir ?

Le propre du souvenir n’est-il pas justement immatériel ? Quelque chose que l’on garde en mémoire, dans une petite case de son cerveau. Eventuellement un souvenir peut être associé à un objet trouvé sur place, un bout de papier, une feuille sur le sol.

Ainsi en regardant  cet objet on se repasse le film du voyage …

Laisser une place au hasard. Faire quelque chose sans objectifs précis. Se laisser simplement porter par ses envies du moment.

Se rendre compte que lorsqu’on fait un choix cela implique de ne pas en faire un autre.

Le futur n’est plus le même … Tout ça ne tiens qu’à un simple choix …

Aller dans cette direction, monter dans cet immeuble, aller sur le toit de ce même immeuble, voir une famille célébrer la fin du Shabbat. Les observer sans qu’ils ne se doutent de rien. Entendre des chants d’hommes, regarder des enfants courir, observer la lumière d’un lampadaire.

Tout ça n’aurait jamais eu lieu si nous n’étions pas entrer dans cet immeuble.

Le plus important n’est pas le but du voyage mais le voyage en lui même …

Accepter de laisser une place à la dérive­­ … durant six heures !

To go without goal, allow a place for the hazard, no plan everything, everytime.

Have million of questions, questions without answers. Not to have answers, be agree to don't have some. 

Whereas the characteristic of Man is always to organize everything, all to envisage, to optimize its time to have a day “profitable”. Not to leave of place randomly quite simply. 

Experiment out the city, to appropriate it. To learn how to observe it and not just to look at it. To take the time to observe the passers by, cats, the dustbins which fill, and after emptied. To observe the tourists who buy memories…

How is it possible to buy a memory ?  

The characteristic of the memory isn't it precisely immaterial ? Something which one keeps in memory, in a small box of the brain. Possibly a memory can be associated with an object found on the spot, a sheet of paper, a leaf on the ground.

Thus by looking at this object one passes by again the film of the travel… 

Leave a place to the hazard. To do something without precise objectives. To simply let itself carry by its desires of the moment.

To realize that when a choice is made that implies not to do another of them.

The future is not any more same… All that hold only with one simple choice…

Go in this direction,go up in this building, go on the roof of this same building, to see a family celebrating the end of Shabbat. To observe without them not suspecting nothing. To hear songs of men, to look at children running, to observe the light of a standard lamp.

All that would never have taken place if we were not to enter this building.

The most important isn’t the goal of the travel bit the travel itself…

Agree to allow a place to the drift… during six hours !

Emmanuelle

in between six landmarks d'erive

"Inesperado" (Unexpected) Presentation of March 21st 2013, Residue Group

Gabriel Orozco / 2010 Table (Desert Samples)

Giuseppe Penone / Face off … To Reverse One's Eyes 1970

Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing

Francis Alys       

Dérive - Searching for Silence

For most of us, the experience of a heavily populated and busy Indian urban area is no small challenge. To simply explore the city, or just to get somewhere, requires an amount of energy and patience that we aren't accustomed to in our Western lifestyle. While walking the streets, our sensory system is under constant attack - from the noise and the crowds, from challenging sights, and from strong odors that pervade every part of the city. It seems as we are all leaves, drifting at the will of the wind on a unplanned trajectory, attempting to calculate our steps through traffic, waste, and water obstacles. The city constantly invades our personal space; even if it seems that you have managed to escape momentarily as your thoughts sail to faraway places of peace and tranquility, the small, fragile hands of a child grasp at you and pull you back to the ground, to the difficult visages that prevail here.

The Dérive track

Jama Masjid

The Jama Masjid mosque compound is located in the heart of the old city, surrounded by a wall separating the inner compound from the hustle and bustle of the market outside. The high walls damper the city noise and creates a visual barrier, as well as preventing motor traffic.

Ahmed Shah Cemetery

A narrow alley leads from the market to the cemetery  The end of the alleyway opens to an inner courtyard filled with graves, and the area is shaded by a large canopy of trees. The cemetery is entirely separated from the city, the sounds of the market are barely audible, and there are no vendors or motor traffic. Nevertheless, the space is not welcoming and is not inviting for a lengthy stay. 

IP Mission Church

The IP Mission Church is located at a very busy intersection, and is surrounded by high-traffic multi-lane roads. The grounds house the priests' residences and the church itself, separated from the city by a high brick wall. The inner courtyard has a calm, peaceful atmosphere, as opposed to what exists beyond the church compound's walls.

Victoria Garden

Just across the road from the IP Mission lies the Victoria Gardens. Compared to the Church, the Gardens do not have any physical separation from the city's traffic, but its size and thick vegetation act as a natural filter, allowing for a quiet and pleasant outdoor space.

Ahmedabad Rooftop Restaurant

So far we have seen many types of peaceful spaces in Ahmedabad. In examining them we found that every place has some kind of physical filter or barrier that separates it from the action of this heavily populated city. In the case of the Ahmedabad Rooftop Restaurant, height is the barrier that separates the space and provides it with its quiet and calm atmosphere.