Dérive

The dérive (French: [de.ʁiv], "drift") is a revolutionary strategy originally put forward in the 'Theory of the Dérive' (1956) by Guy Debord, a member at the time of the Letterist International. Debord defines the dérive as "a mode of experimental behavior linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances." It is an unplanned journey through a landscape, usually urban, in which participants drop their everyday relation and 'let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there'. Though solo dérives are possible, Debord indicates

that the most fruitful numerical arrangement consists of several small groups of two or three people who have reached the same level of awareness, since cross-checking these different groups’ impressions makes it possible to arrive at more objective conclusions.

The dérives goals include studying the terrain of the city (psychogeography) and emotional disorientation, both of which lead to the potential creation of Situations.

The concept of the dérive has its origins in the Letterist International, an avant-garde and Marxist collective based in Paris. The dérive was a critical tool for understanding and developing the theory of psychogeography, defined as the "specific effects of the geographical environment (whether consciously organized or not) on the emotions and behavior of individuals."

The dérive continued to be a critical concept in the theories of the Situationist International, a radical group of avant-garde artists and political theorists that was formed out of the Letterist International, CoBRA and the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus in the 1950s. For the situationists, the dérive was a revolutionary technique to combat the malaise and boredom of the society of the spectacle.

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