Drift London - Psychic Products Dowsing Workshop

UFO In Search of Practice walk 

The UFƟ (unidentified Facility) Drift took place on Saturday 14 September, 1-5pm  in London as part of London Design Festival, by wandering, sharing and improvisation we formed a collective investigation into the (re)-discovery of practice. By creating context and open mindedness towards experimental thinking and making within the nomadic context of the drift, the route explored the landscape of London, intervened with presentations and collective making. 

One of the highlights of the walk was also the presentation of a limited edition publication State of Unsettlement, a collaborative design research project developed in 2018-2019 in reaction to Brexit. Various works developed by participants question and comment on the current precarious political and social landscape in relation to the reinterpretation and imagination of design practice.  

Drift London was a UFƟ test site to stimulate new-dimensional thinking, asking what are we searching for? And why is this important for practice? What do we hope to find?

The Drift is a collective investigation in the (re)discovery of these modes of practice. By developing drifting as a form of test-space, we seek to subvert the logic and connection to enable new belief systems, ecologies, phenomena and past-present-future parameters. The UFƟ Collaboratory seeks new radical forms by design to stimulate new dimensional thinking and design practice. The Collaboratory functions as a safe-space for investigation, focusing on experimental approaches in order to re-examining the form, function and future of the design practice. 

Psychic Products

Has everyone recovered from Friday 13th ? Anything particularly strange happen to anyone?

It’s the day of the full moon so perhaps some of you are feeling a little different to your usual selves? Perhaps emotional, unsettled or full of energy or ready for change.. it’s the perfect day to be rethinking things!

I was born on a full moon and seem to always be unsettled when it comes around...

In thinking about searching new methods of practice and about new-dimensional thinking my contribution to the publication was about the notion of Psychic Products and how these stimulate Visionary rumours..

Carl Jung first mentioned the notion of Psychic Products in 1959 in a book called ‘Flying Saucers - the modern myth of things seen in the sky’ which was an analysis and commentary on the new emerging UFO phenomenon.   

The Psychic Product became a visionary way to interpret a new perspective on reality… a visionary rumour…

By focusing on fixing and being ‘realistic’ are we placing barriers in front of our creativity to re-work rather than re-invent? Should we be celebrating being unrealistic in order to imagine things that perhaps haven’t been imagined before?

I think its important to take belief into account when looking at new design territories… the way people ascertain fact from fiction through rumours presents new challenges for design to look beyond what is perceived as ‘normal’ and explore the realms of fantasy rationale as a way to design new meaning. 

We need to remember that our version of ‘normal’ is a construct of our society… and that is changeable depending on where you live, your social circles, community you live in and life experiences. Political and economic factors -education and opportunity all change who we are and the way we think… we all think very differently… 

By focusing on fixing and being ‘realistic’ are we placing barriers in front of our creativity to re-work rather than re-invent? Should we be celebrating being unrealistic in order to imagine things that perhaps haven’t been imagined before?

Many are experiencing a growing ‘Psychic Disturbance’. In confusing times of fake news and fake truths could it be pertinent that people in all societies look for comfort in symbolic visionary rumours. 

Through designed tools that re-invent how we interpret the world through refocusing our parameters for evaluating, measuring and experiencing it, psychic products tantalise the imagination within a grounded realism. 

Dowsing Workshop

Everyone please take a pair of rods and a psychic lens. (We are going to use ‘third eye’ an alternative to bluetooth to communicate with our rods.. using psychic communication)

We are going to use the next stretch of the walk to find something you are searching for… so on the front of the psychic lens please write or draw who or what you would like to find… then using the rods we are going to tune your lens to the rods and start a search..

First we need to form an association with your rods.

Hold them with thumbs on the tops… ask questions… which way for yes? Which way for no? 

Command the rods… 

Ask round-about questions to test your rods.. for example.. do I have a bald head ‘yes’ …do I like northern rail ’no’

So ask your rods to point you in the direction of your search…

Keep thinking about what you want to find… let them point the way.. if they cross stop.. if they open go backwards until you find the point between open and closed.

If you feel tired or ill, put them down and take a rest !

Some Dowsers think the mind can directly sense what it’s looking for… that there is a genuine psychic connection, you just need to concentrate on what you want to find… we subconsciously control what we want to find, and the rods become antennas for the body.

Good luck with your search !!