Fracture Mob invites people all over the world to get lost simultaneously. This sets up an imaginative space connecting people through the act of walking and the invitation to take time out to get lost, to wander and to drift for a moment. To be surprised by their neighbourhood.

The audio walk, ‘A Guide To Getting Lost’ by artist Jennie Savage uses audio footage recorded over 5 continents. Savage has created a sonic artwork that invites you to get lost in the familiar surroundings of your local geography, whilst walking and following instructions recorded in a Moroccan Souk, Indian Streets, tropical beaches, a London Market, a shopping centre, bustling European towns and a snowy Canadian city.

Following the audio guide walkers listen to the directions on the sound track turning left and right at points narrated by Savage. The walk challenges walkers to see familiar geography afresh, to give themselves up to ‘drifting’ without purpose for 30 minutes and to experience serendipitous moments when sound from the recording appears to sync up with ‘real life’ and real time events.

Taking this guide exposes the routes and pathways we follow on a daily basis and our acceptance of where and how we ‘should’ be walking. Following instructions on the guide to the letter may ask people to walk into unfamiliar places, across gardens or into uncomfortable zones. The choice to take these ‘forbidden’ routes or not is down to individual and their sense of place. Of course this becomes more acute in zones where tighter restrictions are imposed on individual movement or dangers posed by stepping off the beaten track.

Walkers who choose to go to one of the meet up points posted on the website & Google maps will begin to walk together as a group. However there are 3 versions of the guide to download so as the walk progresses people will gradually peel off into smaller groups and eventually disperse. Meet up points are located all over the world and, as with any mapping exercise, this becomes political. Walkers begin to imagine those doing the same in Kiev or Moscow, Tel Aviv or Gaza City, Baghdad. In reality these meet up points will likely remain unmet, however this project is as much about the potential for this to happen, the potential for individuals to walk simultaneously and the reality of that act being carried out against the back drop of whatever social, political, economic, built or natural landscape.

The idea of Fracture Mob is to get as many people across the world to get lost at the same time. That, in making this moment for people to walk simultaneously and enter into this ‘drift state’; they are at once engaging with this idea of getting lost and re- experiencing their familiar surroundings. At the same time there is a moment also to bring to mind the potential of other people in other countries, walking at the same time. This connection to the unknown ‘other’ participating in a simple act simultaneously creates a connection across time, space & situation.

::When:: 18:30hrs (British Summer Time) 3rd October 2014
::Where:: The Guide can be taken independently starting from anywhere.

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