Since being introduced to the concept of drifting , I have done a lot of it, especially at night because my senses are more alert and hidden aspects of things you wouldn’t normally see can be spotted.
I observed people’s style of walk , finding that there were so many different walking styles. Some people walked on an angle taking small steps indicating a nervousness and urge to escape from the situation. Others took huge strides, leading straight forwards, implying they knew where they were heading, and nothing was going to stop this. I did notice that people on their own tended to walk a lot quicker . This was further emphasized for any hooded characters, suggesting that they want to be hidden from society too. Only a few walked with purpose but in a relaxed manner.
I needed to experiment with the touch of different surfaces. I went up to Lucy Tower and found the concrete surface left sediment after being trod on. After the recent snowy weather, the grit on the road also stuck to my shoes and littered the area. The uneven brick ground along the Brayford was slippery.
When walking at different paces, certain senses are definitely heightened When walking at a slow pace , the truck seams to grind to a halt. Depending on how fast I walk, the water levels seem to change too. Even the wind , when walking fast is audible and the lights in the car park seem to blend together. Finally, when observing a picture above Lincoln Theatre Royal the picture, when moving steadily, seems to move to the same rhythm as my footsteps.
Any watery surface distorts a reflection like a house of mirrors as does my reflection in a rainy car window. When I touch smooth objects , my overall feeling is one of happiness, though if I feel something rigid I feel more alert. I could feel the uneven cobble through the soles of my shoes. Furthermore, I found that habitats could be anything , the sky is a habitat for clouds and the bin a habitat for rubbish. When trying to imagine at the cathedral that I am on Table Top Mountain I can envisage the peaks and even though it was a cold night, I started to feel warmth through my jacket so the image had a lasting impression on my senses.
It was time to head back home, but more drifts will follow, and probably during the day to capture a different experience My sense , emotions and imagination helped me to realize that “memory is a part of everyday experience (Nora, 1992, p1). Site specific performance becomes all the more interesting when that memory is lodged so that a traveller’s tale is perused “when someone goes on a trip he has something to tell about ” (Benjamin, 1992, p84).
Work Cited
Pearson, Mike (2010) Site Specific Performance, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
