P r e / a m b l e: A 2 day festival of Art and Psychogeography NOVEMBER 1 & 2, 2003 Home Festival Overview Participating Artists Schedule of Events About Join the Mailing List Contact PRESENTED BY: Western Front Upgrade 2.0 Special Airplane Kate Armstrong Year Zero One OTHER LINKS: What is Psychogeography? Algorithmic Psychogeography Guy Debord's Theory of the Derive Why Psychogeography? Social Fiction Glowlab Psychogeography.net	Kate Armstrong W A L K : PING Meet at Western Front Date: Saturday, November 1, 2003 Time: 4 pm **BRING YOUR CELL PHONE** PING uses a telephone menu system to distribute active commands to participants who call in using cellular telephones. The choices made by the caller when navigating the telephone system produce directions for physical movement through the city. PING is inspired by the internet protocol of the same name, which sends a signal across network lines in order to check the presence of a machine on the network. One machine 'pings' another: If the second machine returns the signal, it is communicating that it exists and that it is ready to receive further information. This protocol is interpreted in an existential way that uses language and a telephone menu system to test the presence or absence of beings (and the mood they are in) on the PING network. The telephone system is set up with a series of if/then commands that spur communication between the system and the user, and between the user and the urban environment in which the user exists. The user navigates through multiple menu levels where s/he must make choices: the choices affect which direction in physical space the person is encouraged to go. PING can be viewed as a tool to remix desire and urban experience so that the user connecting to the PING network is inspired to move through the city in a new way, leading to new and overlapping experiences and perspectives. Voice by Jennifer Silverman. BIO: Kate Armstrong is a media artist and writer who has lived and worked in Canada, France, Japan, Scotland, and the United States. Her work has taken a variety of forms including short films, essays, net.art, performative network events, psychogeography and installation. Her first book, Crisis & Repetition: Essays on Art and Culture, was published in 2002. Her artwork has been exhibited internationally. Kate Armstrong