Bridge 2: The Art of Walking
A derive is said to help remove an individual from the alienation of the city by encouraging one to wander without a goal or a cause in mind. For this assignment, we took a trip to the Oculus in hopes to perfume a derive as a class. This will have been my second derive I make as a class and already having done a few readings and research on what a derive is. My experience with the derive was pretty interesting. I didn’t fully feel like I didn’t have a purpose. I felt like I had to come back with the right information to please my professor’s expectations. That being said, I sought out to try and find something I hadn’t noticed before in the Oculus.
In terms of systems, there were obvious systems coming into the light when I started to search for the physical aspects of the city and this tourist location. To begin, the oculus seems to be a structure with many purposes but not one clear function at first glance. There are shopping stores of all kinds and a big empty pit in the middle of the lower level with little to no seating available. Obviously this structures houses a train station but that isn’t immediately visible when entering the structure. What you first see is this perfect awning on each end of the structure where tourists frequently stop and take pictures- many not even getting to the bottom level or knowing this is a train station. Once at the bottom, you can see all sorts of expensive stores that are empty because it is not forwardly obvious that there would be a mall located inside the structure. Once you delve inside, you can see even more level of stores, dining, and eventually you can see the train stations around the space.
There’s three different layers in the system of the people that were in this space. I noticed obviously the tourists that only make it to perch in and take their photo. Secondly, you can see some people diving into the space trying to figure out its function and popping in and out of the stores available. Also, we can see people moving quickly and knowing exactly where they needed to be and running to the trains. The third set of people I noticed in the space was the people working inside the structure, whether it was the employees, the cleaning crew, or the construction workers working on the new entrances and new stores in the space. Each set of people had a different demeanor and a different attitude towards this space and the way they interpreted it.
For me this experience was actually really interesting. Along my walk throughout the space I actually bumped into an old friend who lives near me and I never see but we somehow crossed paths both so far from home at the oculus. It was interesting that I had noticed him especially because he was moving so quickly and heading straight to the train entrance. I don’t normally take the train so the only reason I was able to cross paths with him was because I allowed myself to walk aimlessly throughout the space without a purpose. This meeting had me questioning how much I don’t notice what’s around me on my everyday life especially living in such a big city like New York.
Overall, I do think this process was a bit counterintuitive in the sense that we are setting out to not have a plan but that is a plan within itself. However, I do think the process of the derive and this assignment accomplished its objective. I don’t think it was accomplished purposefully or maybe just proposing this idea was enough to get a reaction and get us thinking about the space we are in and our function. All around, I didn’t have the greatest expectations for this process because I thought I would just search for what was required or what I thought was expected of me but I ended up actually seeing the systems and the way a structure like the Oculus functions with the different kinds of people it attracts.
