The Nomadic Party

The Nomadic Party by Group 3

     The Nomadic Party was the relational remix of Group 3, as pertaining to Party! In Progress, which was the initial project of F.O.U.R.

     The concepts that F.O.U.R. presented with Party! In Progress (alluding to the collective of VCC 490 that they would be participating in a party that was never fully actualized) was reinterpreted by Group 3.

     Instead of concentrating on the ideas of affective labour which F.O.U.R had made central to Party! In Progress, Group 3 developed the idea of an on-campus nomadic party within their groups’ aesthetic and centralized their remix on the theories of Guy Debord.

     The idea of The Nomadic Party was no longer a self–contained event in the way that Party! In Progress had been. The Nomadic Party instead delivered the anticipated party to the students of VCC 490, while also incorporating and encouraging the participation of other students from UTM. Group 3 had inverted the aesthetics of Party! In Progress, making it a spectacle that was both mobile and viral.

          "Our central purpose is the construction of situations, that is, the concrete construction of temporary settings of life and their transformation into a higher, passionate nature. We must develop an intervention directed by the complicated factors of two great components in perpetual interaction: The material setting of life and the behaviors that incites it and overturns it." (Debord 44)1

     The Nomadic Party was self-contained like Party! In Progress, but instead of being defined by architecture and decorum, the members of The Nomadic Party had centralized and internalized the party mentality. They defined themselves through party accoutrements (drinks & snacks) and by incorporating the party decorations as part of their apparel.

     With The Nomadic Party, the students of VCC 490 were given party decorations and noisemakers and were told to decorate themselves. They were also given refreshments and snacks, and were encouraged to distribute these among the student population as a means of encouragement to participate. There were also portable music players, emitting danceable tunes while the party moved its way across the University campus. The members of VCC 490 were instructed to travel within the pack, so as to as to maintain the mob mentality they had established in their activity The Flash Mob. With The Nomadic Party stayed true to, “The most general aim must be to broaden the nonmediocre portion of life, to reduce its empty moments as much as possible.” (Debord 45)2, as they brought a moment of surrealism to the students on campus.

     The Nomadic Party had traveled in a circular pattern from the CCIT building, moving towards the South Building, crossing over to the Student Center, before finalizing its course at the Starbucks located across the library.

     With The Nomadic Party , Group 3 had successfully embodied the theories of Guy Debord through their disruption of the repetitive motions of campus life via a spectacle.


F.O.U.R.


SOURCES

1& 2Debord, Guy. Situationist International. 2002nd ed. New York: MIT P, 2002. 44-51.