A Drift — A method for playful and collaborative exploration of urban space

In A Drift, participants take turns leading and following, while everyone listens to a shared soundtrack using headphones. The experience can vary in time from 60 minutes to potentially very long durations.

The experience of A Drift is both one of strong, individual experience and shared social situation. The number of participants can vary from 2-15 participants, even if larger (or even personal) drifts are of course possible permutations of the method.

The method is free to use by anyone and we generally encourage sharing of culture and knowledge, for example by using Creative Commons licensed music for our track lists and sharing variants of the method.

How to

Drifting has a few simple rules, but is not a game you can win in any traditional sense. We drift for the joy and pleasure of getting lost, following the impulses of our fellow players, taking part in a shared atmosphere through music, and experiencing the city in a novel way.

A Drift starts and ends with the track list. To take initiative for leading others, simply show raise your hand for everyone to see. The rest of the participants, who do not currently lead the group, follows the leader's initiative in exploring the city. Participants are invited to let the leader direct their attention and inform their drift. After a few minutes, the person currently leading raises their hand again to signal that their leading of the group has ended. This gives space for another participant to take initiative. Don’t rush it, choosing what to do next can take a few moments. The cyclical change of leadership is repeated until the music stops, signaling the end of the drift.

Background

A Drift was originally developed by Thom Kiraly, Mikael Vesavuori and Niklas Persson and featured at several urban play festivals around 2014. Of course, drifting is a technique with a wide range of historical influences and traditions. One of the most active communities around A Drift is Berlin-based Drift Club run by Thom Kiraly and Sebastian Quack, with contributions from a growing number of drift enthusiasts around the world.

Contact

Feel free to get in touch with us about the method, our background, or want us to arrange A Drift.