Derive workshop · edition 03
A paired attention drift through Clissold Park
Thursday 23 July 2026, 19:00Clissold Park, Stoke Newington · up to 12 people · 90 minutes
Pilot information
This page is the informational pilot edition. Phone preparation and the stationary witness console remain locked until the route recce, permission, insurance, weather, print and real-device checks have recorded evidence.
Feel Your Way is a psychogeographic field workshop. You work in pairs at one stationary spot: one listens with eyes open, softened or closed, one witnesses, then you swap. Nobody walks with vision restricted. Around seventy years ago, the Situationists used the derive, or drift, to attend to how places shape feeling and behaviour. Derive extends that question: the useful map is not only streets, but what streets do to you.
Clissold Park was secured after a sustained local campaign and opened on 24 July 1889. At the opening, Lord Rosebery declared it open ‘to the public for ever’. Beckmere and Runtzmere are named after Joseph Beck and John Runtz, prominent campaigners who helped lead the effort. A restored remnant of the New River also crosses the park; the artificial water conduit was completed in 1613 to carry water from Hertfordshire to London. Sofia calls tonight mapping resistance. This is a map of campaigning, maintenance and made water, hiding in plain sight.
The digital edition remains locked while the pilot gates are open. Nothing tonight is compulsory, and the word stop always means stop.
- Selfyour breath, your feet, your pace
- Spaceits water, its ground, its birds and its last light
- Otherthe voice and attention keeping you company
- Commons
- Resistance
- Care
- Attention
- Water
- Abundance
- Futures
The opening talk · roughly four minutes
Optional stationary attention
This optional, stationary exercise changes how a sighted participant looks for a few minutes. It is about attention and communication. It does not simulate blindness or replicate the experiences of blind or low-vision people, whose lives involve long-term adaptation, skills and tools far beyond this workshop. Please do not generalise from this exercise to assumptions about disabled people's lives.
Taking part is always your choice, and it stays your choice. You can keep your eyes open, look, stop, sit or leave at any moment, in either role, and you never have to say why. The word stop always means stop.
You pair with a stranger at one stationary spot. One person listens with eyes open, softened or closed; one witnesses and keeps the immediate space clear. Then you swap. Nobody walks with vision restricted. Eyes reopen before either person moves or photographs. Afterwards the group takes an eyes-open drift and builds the third park together, a map made of feelings instead of paths.
The field score · 90 minutes
- 5Braided opening and readiness check
Name the edition's pilot status, weather and access route before Sofia frames mapping resistance. Give the six-step agenda aloud with a card in every hand. Nobody begins until the facilitator has confirmed that the exercise stays stationary and optional.
- 10Consent, pairing and witness rehearsal
Hand out the consent card and keep the spoken version short: eyes open, softened or closed; touch; stop; photographs; collective map. Pair strangers, brief the witnesses and rehearse STOP and EYES before anyone changes how they look.
- 10Stationary attention, first part
Pairs choose one dry, level spot within sight of base camp. One person stays seated or standing with eyes open, softened or closed; one witnesses and keeps the immediate space clear. Comfort check at five minutes. Eyes open before anyone moves or photographs.
- 3The stationary swap
Both people open their eyes, check in and swap roles without changing location. Re-agree eyes, touch and stopping before the second attention period.
- 10Stationary attention, second part
Roles reversed at the same spot. The second listener receives one felt clue, then notices their own version of the place. Comfort check at five minutes. Eyes open before either person moves.
- 2Regroup bridge
Everyone returns with eyes open for one breath together. Name the shift from paired stationary attention to an eyes-open drift. Headcount before anyone walks away.
- 15Eyes-open solarpunk drift
Card-led and eyes open, with a chosen pace and route inside the agreed park boundary. Come back with one place where the future is already leaking through. The sound-led and stationary routes are first-class alternatives.
- 2Regroup for the map
Recall walking, headcount, move to the map.
- 20The collective feeling-map
Build the third park on the A1 sheet, dark-ink word label first and colour second. Pins, exact locations, photographs and spoken reflection are separate choices. An absence or withheld place belongs on the map as much as a contribution.
- 6Read the map aloud
The aloud read is the real reading of the map. A few voices, one pin each: where it was, what it felt like, why it earned a word. Gera reads one convergence, one contradiction and one absence, then hands to Sofia for the resistance layer.
- 7Solarpunk find and close
Mark where the place is being held onto now, and one solarpunk find where the future is already here. Turn to the last of the light for the sun toast. Exchange a photograph only if both people choose it, then head out together.
Walking can include wheeling, pausing, sitting and returning early. Every prompt is optional.
- A stationary listening and mapping route on the lawn by Clissold House
- Printed prompts instead of phone audio
- Eyes open throughout, with no explanation required
Local capture, workshop sharing and public publication are separate decisions. The collective Mapzine keeps disagreements and withheld places visible instead of flattening the group into one route.
Location and time
Thursday 23 July 2026, 19:00Clissold Park, Stoke Newington
- Base camp
- Gate
- Anchor
- Keep clear
15 minon foot
The paired attention exercise stays at one dry, level spot near base camp. The only walking score is a 15-minute, eyes-open drift, with pace and distance chosen by each participant and no fixed route.
- 15′Eyes-open solarpunk driftChoose your own eyes-open route and pace inside the agreed boundary. The printed card asks what is already being kept alive.
Base camp
Provisional meeting landmark: outside, at ground level, by the main entrance to Clissold House café in the park's south-east quarter. Confirm the exact step-free position on the recce.
Enter from the Green Lanes gate on the west side, or the Stoke Newington Church Street gate on the south. Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, London N16. Hackney's published closing time for 23 July is 21:30; confirm it again on the day.
Getting there
- Stoke Newington station is on the London Overground Weaver line; field-time the route to the chosen gate before publishing a walking estimate.
- Manor House station is on the Piccadilly line to the north-west; field-time the route before publishing a walking estimate.
- Hackney lists nearby bus services 73, 106, 141, 341, 393 and 476.
On arrival
- Fink's café in Clissold House lists Thursday opening until 16:00, so it is unavailable at the 19:00 workshop and is not a rain fallback.
- Hackney lists public toilets and water-refill provision in the park. Confirm evening opening, step-free access and working water points on the day.
- Open lawns can support a stationary alternative, but the recce must identify one dry, level and step-free spot.
Take it home
The collective map
The feeling-map is a physical A1 sheet, built from chosen words, colour and optional photographs. Nothing stays on the sheet unless the person who contributed it agrees.
Your own foldzine
Each walker's drift becomes an eight-panel foldzine, A4, fold only and no scissors. Open your drift in Archive, choose Foldzine, review what to keep, then print at 100%.
Archive → your drift → Foldzine → Print
What stays private
Photographs and audio stay on the device. Sharing to the wall, and any public Mapzine, are separate choices made after a local privacy review.
Facilitating or guiding this walk? Open the facilitator and guide briefing →