Derive workshop · edition 03
A paired attention drift through Haggerston Park
Thursday 23 July 2026, 18:00Haggerston Park, Hackney · 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. Seventy years ago the Situationists stopped making art objects and started making situations. Their instrument was the derive, the drift, and their claim still stands: the real map of a city is not its streets, it is what the streets do to you.
Haggerston Park is the best argument that places can change their minds. Before it was a park this ground was a gasworks, burning coal to light London from 1823; in 1956 the county council turned a fossil-fuel landscape into a commons. Solarpunk is the other half of the day: an orchard planted by more than 140 volunteers, a rooftop solar microgrid on the council flats across Whiston Road, a council that runs its own clean-energy team. Psychogeography reads the city as it is felt. Solarpunk walks it as it could be. We do both at once.
It doubles as a gentle field test of Derive, the AI drift narrator this workshop quietly trials. Nothing today is compulsory, and the word stop always means stop.
- Selfyour breath, your feet, your pace
- Spaceits sounds, its ground, its sun and shade
- Otherthe voice and attention keeping you company
- Abundance
- Joy
- Care
- Attention
- Experiment
- Commons
- 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
- 5Arrival and welcome
Arrive with eyes open. Put the phone away unless you choose the digital route, meet the group and hear the access, weather and stopping arrangements before any exercise begins.
- 7Pairing, consent and the witness's promise
Pair with a stranger. Choose eyes open, softened or closed while stationary, agree whether touch is welcome, and make separate choices about photography and the collective map. The witness says it aloud: stop always means stop.
- 12Stationary attention, first part
One person stays seated or standing in one agreed spot, with eyes open, softened or closed; the other witnesses and keeps the space clear. Listen, feel the ground and notice the air. Reopen your eyes before moving or photographing.
What became noticeable when looking stopped being the first instruction? - 3The stationary swap
Both people reopen their eyes, check in and swap roles without changing location. Re-agree eyes, touch and stopping before the second attention period begins.
- 12Stationary attention, second part
Roles reversed at the same stationary spot. The second listener inherits one felt clue from their partner, then notices their own version of the place. Eyes reopen before either person moves.
- 3Regather and chosen sight
Together, choose one thing to look at slowly: canopy, brick, water or sky. Photograph only after looking, and only if you want to.
- 15Solarpunk solo drift
Everyone drifts alone and sighted, with either the Derive narrator in one ear or a printed prompt card in hand. Come back with one place where the future is already leaking through.
You have walked the park as it is felt. Now walk it as it could be. - 18The collective feeling-map
On a large sheet with only the bones drawn, optionally pin a photograph and a colour from the 12-emotion palette where the feeling happened, each person choosing whether to say one sentence aloud. Forget where the paths are; mark what happened to you where it happened.
- 15Read the map and close
A few voices each narrate one chosen pin and take us there. Name one convergence and one solarpunk find, then close with an optional photograph exchange. The map stays only if everyone whose material appears on it agrees; the habit of the third park goes with you.
Walking can include wheeling, pausing, sitting and returning early. Every prompt is optional.
- A stationary listening and mapping route at base camp
- 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, 18:00Haggerston Park, Hackney
- Base camp
- Gate
- Anchor
- Keep clear
15 minon foot
The paired attention exercise stays at one agreed spot. The only walking score is a 15-minute, eyes-open drift in the northern park, with distance chosen by each participant.
- 15′Eyes-open solarpunk driftChoose your own pace through the northern park. Stay clear of the pond, BMX track, canal edge and roads.
Base camp
The sun shelter, north-west corner of Haggerston Park, on Whiston Road beside the north-west gate. Look for the roofed benches; the printed base map will be pinned there.
North-west gate, Whiston Road, London E2 (park postcode E2 8NH). Gates open from 07:30 and the park closes at 21:30 in summer.
Getting there
- Nearest station: Haggerston (London Overground), about a 10-minute walk.
- Hoxton (London Overground) is a similar distance to the south-west.
- Buses run along Hackney Road and Queensbridge Road; Santander Cycles docks sit at Goldsmiths Row and Queensbridge Road.
On arrival
- Accessible toilets in the park (the council-managed unit needs a door code; arrive a few minutes early).
- Haggerston Kiosk for coffee, open seven days, near the west path.
- A drinking fountain mid-park; bring a bottle for a warm evening.
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 →