Jules John

Media art allows us to explore the dull in a different light. It is a means for us to find meaning in what we expose ourselves to daily. A derive journey can be an example of creating a completely unique experience out of the banal and familiar. Derive journeys utilize a specific visual cue within an urban setting to subconsciously guide the journeying individual. Applied in a well acquainted setting this purposeful refrain from purpose aims at sparking new joys in what would be otherwise average encounters with the every-day.

I think the derive journey is like a teaser trailer for the life that could have been. It can highlight the immensity of our world, the uniqueness of the small microcosm of society we live in and bring attention to the repetitive, unadventurous nature of our daily routine. It teaches us that truly, not all those who wander are lost. With a complete removal of purpose we can discover and stumble upon marvelous, thrilling and surprisingly fresh aspects of an environment we had once thought to be the master of.

I think the ideal of becoming hyper conscious of the daily routine can apply especially to the internet. The internet allows for a complete myriad of uses. Yet however useful the internet may be, mindlessly perusing the ever stimulating pleasures of the world wide web seems to be an increasingly popular pastime. A kind of derive journey millions take every day.

However; this heavily curated journey doesn’t allow us a freeing feeling of shackle busting exploration, but is rather reliant on shallow manipulation of virtual space and algorithms. Browsing the internet for the sake of browsing the internet is a purposeless journey, similar to the derive; yet it lacks the ideal of being purposeless with a purpose.

Is this truly providing a refreshing experience?
I think a refreshing internet experience is to cut absolutely everything bar the necessary. Instead of refusing to explore your urban environment with purpose, using the internet with anything but purpose is what I believe to be a truly unique implication of the resource. To derive from the mindless banalities of the internet’s bountiful distractions is to truly find a purpose within the info-blasting hyperspace we subject ourselves to daily.