archival solstice shenanigans

it occured to me yesterday that last weekend saw the first solstice in a long time there wasn't an "official" LRM event

as some of you know i have felt for a while i have spent so much time facilitating that my own creative practices and observances have been neglected and i just couldnt fit this in. Apologies for those who felt an absence

I'm going to repost last years communique on the blog because its another useful excercise to feel connected to the loitering spirit.

i wish you a joyous and wonderful last week and a bit of december however you spend it and whatever you belive in.

Hopefully I will be using time away from my day job to update the website and spend time replying to all the wonderful emails folk have sent; as ever iIapologise for my tardiness.

If anyone would like to propose making me a kept woman i may reconsider my aversion to selling out so i can concentrate on the psychogeographical revolution full time!

glittery love and mulled wine M x

solstice communique from the LRM 2007

The LRM recently thought about celebrating our first birthday but we decided to build a space rocket and play our melodica instead.

It didn't feel like a birthday because we're still not quite sure we exist. But it's a year since the Accidental International Festival of Psychogeography, which is when we were given a name and started the first Sunday shenanigans (how long does something have to go on before it's a tradition?)

Our manifesto is disgracefully over due; we keep getting distracted by the beauty of flowers growing out of the side of buildings and the tragedy of commercialisation. It will appear one day, when you least expect it, but generally we like chaos more than rules.

We are becoming afraid that some people think psychogoegraphy is just for first Sundays or special occasions and one must be taught how to drift or heed expert directions. This is anathema to the LRM.

Don't listen to us! We like DIY (but we're scared of power tools) and we never, ever want people to think we are custodians of some secret knowledge.

Symbols, maps and anniversaries matter because we invest them with power. The solstices have always been an important time for the LRM; we like to melt time and blur the boundaries between the worlds of myth and materialism. Last year we collaborated with The Shaping to dematerialise the gruesome Beetham Tower which for us represents much that is rotten within our glorious city but we won't dwell on past glories.

This solstice practicalities mean many LRM collaborators are spreading magick and mischief outside Mancunia but still we wanted to join together to celebrate both the sacred and profane so we politely ask you, whoever, whatever and wherever you are, to join us in a great experiment and help answer the eternal question 'but what is psychogeography?'

We invite you to play a game with us at a time and place of your choosing on 22nd December 2007.

These are the rules for you to ignore:

1 Stop what you're doing and tap your heels together. Spin around if you feel like it. (the LRM accept no liability for any accidents that may occur due to over zealous spinning so please take care)

2 Head off in whichever direction takes your fancy and wander at will until you want to stop.

3 As you traverse, aim to discover something new and marvellous and look for something you have never seen, felt or listened to before (we bet there will be something)

4 Repeat as desired at intervals through out the day 5 Or don't. If you think this is pointless you may be right. But we think it will be fun and we can create something beautiful from it.

6 If you do have a solstice adventure please send us a few notes, observations, random words or pictures. We will weave them together into a virtual derive, and thus create a psychogeographical dot-to-dot linking freelance flanauers into a unique and amazing work of art (trust us, we will)

Friends and comrades, this Solstice reclaim your footsteps, invent your environment and discover your own psychogeography.

We don't know what it is.

With glittery love and golden apples fromThe Loiterers Resistance Movement

PS The LRM would like to thank everyone who has inspired, frustrated, bumped into, walked, talked and raised a glass with us this year, whether you consider yourself a loiterer or not. You have changed our course and bought new ideas, joy and mischief. We thank you all whole heartedly for this and hope to get lost with you again in the new year

signs and wonders

It feels a little wrong to have a favourite first sunday but the metaphysical treasure hunt was surely one of the most fun and insightful i can recall. A report will appear sometime soon but in the meantime here are the instructions so you can play it yourselves (pictures are some amusing signs I've seen recently and not related to the text)

Thanks to Alan for collating, and indeed creating most of, the clues. He truly is a loiterer of distinction

Ask someone not playing the game to print off the instructions, cut them into separate strips, fold them and put them in an envelope.

Make groups of no more than 5 or 6 people.

There are 20 instructions in your envelope – take them out one at a time over the next 2 hours – some of the instructions will take 10 minutes to complete, others can go on for the rest of the walk.

You don’t have to complete one instruction before you pick another – it’s good to combine them.
The instructions are open to interpretation – be creative, have fun and play

UMBRA(GE)
Follow your shadow – if you don’t have a shadow try to find some

MEMORIALS
Cities mark their history in stone – once the names have been carved they are rarely heard again. Find a memorial and read aloud the silent words and names.

ROADWORKS
Find a hole in the ground – instead of thinking of it as an inconvenience, look at it as an impromptu open-air exhibition or archaeological dig.

SIMULACRA
Unintended images are everywhere. Look out for simulacra, they are eruptions of secret history. They mean things...

CIRCUIT
Walk between two arbitrary points or around a block for the next 10 minutes – note what you discover on each circuit. Walk until the streets themselves are taking you for a walk.

NO U-TURN
Find a way to get to where you want to go by walking in the opposite direction.

DANGER
Push to the edge of your comfort zone. Notice, if you reach it, the point at which you no longer feel safe. Then take one more step...

DAY OF THE DEAD
The streets are filled with zombies. Move through the crowds without giving yourself away. Observe the dead and their places covertly. Make sure you always have an escape route. Survive by moving.

NATURE WALK
Look for the non-human. Maps drawn by snails. Birds nesting in alcoves. Spiders decorating windows. Trees on rooftops...

ON REFLECTION
Use the big plate glass windows of your city as cinema screens. Watch them like a movie-goer. Or be a director and call the shots.

EDGES
Identify and explore edges, where one place becomes another. Travel along a boundary – if you think it’s safe enough, leap across it. Are the edges clear cut? Or are there transitional zones? Enjoy the blurred liminal territories.

THE HEART OF THE CITY
Ask as many people as possible for directions to the heart of the city. Keep asking...

PUBLIC/PRIVATE
Fin somewhere to be private in a public space.

WINDOW ART
For this week only there is a citywide exhibition of art displays in the windows of the city’s homes. How many can you find?

READ THE CITY
The pavements and streets are a book. Look for the writing on the city – on posters, on rubbish, on graffiti, on manhole covers, on bins, on drains, on street furniture. Use this to guide your drift and rename the streets.

STOP!
Stand still, stay exactly where you are for the next 10 minutes and watch the human traffic ebb and flow around your island of calm.

QUIET!
For the next 10 minutes do not speak or use any sign language. Observe how the dynamics of the group affect the drift when you don’t communicate verbally.

DID YOU JUST HEAR THAT?
Follow your ears – let the sounds around you guide your drift. Hunt for places of quiet or noise – listen out for accidental music and the mutterings of the ghosts under the pavements...

SAFARI
You are now on the hunt – track down as many lions, horses, elephants and ducks as you can find.

EVEN A STOPPED CLOCK TELLS THE RIGHT TIME TWICE A DAY
Look out for clocks on buildings and in windows. How does the city run like clockwork? How does time affect the use and meaning of a place?

hulme environmental project

A message from our friend Jonathan (who some will remember for organising the garden city social which so memorably celebrated the end of Get Lost... actually did I say memorable? Its very blurry in my mind but I know it was fun!)

I am working with David Haley who runs the Art and Ecology MA at MMU. We have submitted a project which you can vote for here: http://www.mmu.ac.uk/fellowship.php?area=riversup until Friday 12th December.

We want to run a series of projects with people in Hulme, working with local groups to promote the environment and biodiversity in Hulme, now and in the future. With the MMU looking to move into Hulme we think it's important that local people have a say in what happens and that whatever is built addresses environmental issues.

Please circulate to people who might be interested.

Thanks very much,Jonathan and David

geography is sexy

oh yes it is

i am really excited about http://engaginggeography.wordpress.com/ and plan to go there for some post christmas inspiration, if anyone else fancies the trip let me know and maybe we could travel together (dont get me started on travel today, oh manchester what have you done?)

The great metaphysical treasure hunt this sunday....

Dear friends, flaneurs, flippertygibbets and miscellaneous super heroes The great LRM metaphysical treasure hunt will take place THIS SUNDAY December 7th 2008, 2pm and the Manchester contingent will be gathering at the John Rylands Library on Deansgate

We will be finding hidden beauty, discovering portals to parallel universes, liberating forgotten ghosts and conjuring magic tricks to help us gain new insights into and amazing views of our familiar environment.

The clues are such they can be followed wherever you are in this world (and we are pretty sure the next one too) so if you would like to take part please email loiterhepzombie.co.uk or text 07974929589 The latter is preferable because then you can experience real time updates (whatever that means)

All shenanigans can be shared via our brand new wiki (cheers to Julian)
http://loiterers-resistance-movement.pbwiki.com/ and also the flker pool http://www.flickr.com/groups/816115@N22/ (thanks to everyone who contributes – all those pseudonyms confuse me but there are some amazing images - some posted here now) Both of these, alongside http://www.nowhere-fest.blogspot.com help document the essentially ephemeral experience of the LRM so please share your thoughts.

At the risk of turning this bulletin into an Oscar speech I’d also like to thank everyone who participated in the planning meeting last week (the report is imminent I promise – my apologies for the delay, I have been afflicted by the modern clichés of information overload and extreme business) There are some very intriguing and wonderful ideas brewing; many will be manifesting early in the new year so watch the (un)usual spaces.

This Sunday promises to be the LRM’s most spectacular expedition yet and I for one am very excited. All you need to join in is an open mind and appropriate clothing – no whinging about the weather please – and I really hope you will partake either in Manchester or via the etheric link that joins loiterers everywhere when they stop to feel their way around begin to transform their mundane surroundings into a kaleidoscope of joy

The city is an adventure, please come and play out with the LRM

Much love, glitter and hot chocolate

Morag x

Map of the week

http://photographywithoutborders.blogspot.com/

Disturbing but not all together surprising mapping of a Smash Edo demo

Wiki

Hello boys and girls.

A pal has just informed me that we're on Wikipedia. I didn't know that.

We're right here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loiterers_Resistance_Movement

Gosh, we sound impressive. Although it doesn't mention the Get Lost festival.

Love,
Seán