Tendency to Trespass: Walking and Publishing in the History of Psychogeography

This chapter traces the evolution of psychogeography, particularly its fusion with the radical and alternative traditions of zine culture and self-publishing. Refraining from merely recounting well-trodden historical paths, it focuses on the innovative intermedial practices that psychogeography has inspired, examining how these practices intersect with walking and publishing. The survey begins with some of the narratives that are now considered the origins of psychogeography, chronicling subversive walks through urban landscapes and their production in ephemeral media forms that prefigure modern zines. It discusses key figures and movements, from the Situationists’ integration of art and life to the literary psychogeography of Iain Sinclair, and how these have influenced contemporary forms of the phenomenon. This chapter illustrates how psychogeography has always mingled the physical act of walking with the act of creating, using the production of zines as a modern continuation of this tradition. It posits that today’s psychogeographical practices, disseminated through zines, retain the revolutionary spirit of historical psychogeography while adapting to contemporary media and social contexts. Through this analysis, the chapter argues that modern psychogeography, much like its historical precedents, is a potent form of cultural and spatial critique mediated through innovative publishing practices.