Psychogeography Map

 

During my experience of creating a mental map, I found far more freedom in logging my journeys. I did not feel the need to measure by blocks or try to remember a street sign (and I know that was exactly what we weren’t supposed to do as well) and I enjoyed that. I remembered stores, restaurants or buildings that stuck out to me on my journey, and I placed them on my map, purposefully not thinking too hard. I love this idea because, (and I’m realizing this as I’m writing it) the name of the map makes perfect sense. A mental map, throughout this process I was literally putting down on paper how my mind navigates these two routes, without embellishing at all. It was an interesting look into how my mind does this, I realize that I use landmarks heavily to navigate. It was hard however to remember the order in which stores were placed. For example, I knew Urban Outfitters and Levi’s were on the same side of the street, but I couldn’t remember which came first, so I put them close together and guessed. I also appreciated the artistic freedom in this project because not only did I place the locations where I wanted to, but I gave each one a color theme as well. I painted on top of magazine cut outs vertical and horizontal lines to represent the grid-like quality of my routes. One of my routes went from Union Square to Beekman Street downtown, and walking down Broadway through Soho reminded of bright, warm colors with all of the commotion and stores. Conversely, my journey from Beekman Street to Brookfield Place was painted with blues because it is a calm journey with less people and it leads me to the river. I loved the freedom and the introspective quality that this assignment gave all while being fun.

If I was leaving the city for the last time, I would go to Brookfield Place, which is one of my routes. It looks out on New Jersey, and I love being by the water. It’s like an escape for me, which I guess is appropriate if I was going to leave.

I would suggest someone to go downtown and visit Battery Park or the Hudson River Park. Being on the Hudson River is beautiful for the sunset.

I don’t know the area of Chelsea as well as I should since I live so close. All the galleries and cobblestone streets are so attractive to me. I think it is an adorable part of the city and I want to go to more galleries and museums there.

I’ve only been to the lower east side once before, and I vaguely remember seeing some more modern buildings amongst the shorter brick ones. I’m in love with historic brick buildings, so I would not like to see more modern architecture coming into that part of the city. I want it to remain quaint and artsy.

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