Drawing a Psychogeographic Map From a Home Movie Archive (a methodological experience)*

Abstract

In this visual essay, I propose to conduct an introductory mapping experience with an archive of home movies made in Lisbon. I will be using montage as a methodological tool: I will extract fragments from various home movie collections, identify shots of the same space, and juxtapose these images on a single line. I will create a specific city path from the gathered images and identify the spatial recurrences and absences exposed on that editing line. I will then investigate the nature of the path drawn based on this archive and ask: is this a psychogeographic map? Starting with the montage of home movies’ fragments, I will research on the possibility of applying urban theories for the future to a city of the past and researching on the archive the mutual influences between the city’s design and the modes of how its inhabited.

Keywords: archive, home movies, psychogeography