The Following Project
Inspired by Vito Acconci’s work, I decided to follow random pedestrians through the streets of Groningen. Before beginning, I established a set of rules to create an ethical and legal framework for the act of following.
One of my main motivations was to temporarily suspend my existential freedom by deliberately giving up control over the direction of my walk. I created a framework in which, for a limited time, I could simply experience a path determined by a stranger. By surrendering this small act of decision making, I became both the follower and the participant in a structure I had designed myself.
Second, I wanted to discover the city through the element of surprise, encountering places and routes that I might not have chosen for myself. This was particularly relevant because I had just moved to Groningen, and the city was still relatively new to me. Following strangers allowed me to encounter the city through surprise, and unfamiliarity, and to use this deliberately constructed, almost experimental condition to experience another form of freedom through the temporary suspension of existential choice.
One of my main motivations was to temporarily suspend my existential freedom by deliberately giving up control over the direction of my walk. I created a framework in which, for a limited time, I could simply experience a path determined by a stranger. By surrendering this small act of decision making, I became both the follower and the participant in a structure I had designed myself.
Second, I wanted to discover the city through the element of surprise, encountering places and routes that I might not have chosen for myself. This was particularly relevant because I had just moved to Groningen, and the city was still relatively new to me. Following strangers allowed me to encounter the city through surprise, and unfamiliarity, and to use this deliberately constructed, almost experimental condition to experience another form of freedom through the temporary suspension of existential choice.