RBNXPLRNG - The APP
The art of getting lost: On situationists, Dérive & RBNXPLRNG
Last year, I introduced RBNXPLRNG in Darkrooms. Several photographers embraced this fun challenge, sending their 5-photo urban explorations. Now, I'd like to share the story behind this project's conception…
…and the webapp I’ve developed to make it even easier to do RBNXPLRNG.
The art of getting lost: On situationists & Dérive
Imagine: Paris in the 1950s. A group of young artists and thinkers wander aimlessly through the city, deliberately resisting the 'normal' way people move through urban spaces. They ignore the usual routes between work and home, between shops and cafés. Instead, they allow themselves to be guided by intuition, by the atmosphere of streets and squares, by whatever attracts them at that moment. These were the Situationists, and what they did was called a 'dérive' - literally translated: drifting.
The Situationists were rebellious, playful, and serious all at once. They believed that the modern city trapped people in predictable patterns: from home to work, from shop to home, always the same routes, always the same experiences. With the dérive, they developed a kind of game to break these patterns. The idea was simple yet revolutionary: walk through the city without a plan, without a purpose, and let yourself be guided by what you encounter. But this was more than just wandering aimlessly. The Situationists studied how different parts of the city had different atmospheres, how some places attracted you and others repelled you. They created maps that didn't show streets and buildings, but the emotions and experiences different neighborhoods evoked. By deliberately 'wandering incorrectly' through the city, they discovered an entirely new way of looking at their environment.
In this era of Google Maps, where every route is pre-planned, the idea of purposeless wandering sounds almost revolutionary. Yet there's something timeless about the dérive. The desire to experience the city in a new way, to break free from our daily patterns, is perhaps more relevant now than ever. This explains why there are now even apps that help you wander randomly through a city: they give us an excuse to get truly lost. The beauty of the dérive is that it requires no special skills. You don't need to be an artist or philosopher to try it. All you need is some time, curiosity, and the willingness to let go of your habits. Who knows what hidden places, unexpected encounters, and new insights you might discover when you stop seeing the city as a collection of routes from A to B, and start seeing it as a playground full of possibilities.
The birth of RBNXPLRNG
During the Corona pandemic, I undertook a daily lunchtime walk. With my camera around my neck, I captured everything that caught my eye. Sometimes several photos, sometimes none at all. After walking the same routes for a while, I already knew the usual spots - the historic façades in the city centre, the market square, the quiet alleys, small squares, and parks. It was then that I came across Dérive, an app that does exactly what I described above: letting you wander through an urban environment.
As a photographer, you often walk the same routes, searching for that one incredible photo. But what if we let chance determine where we go? What if we force ourselves to photograph places we would normally walk past? From these questions, RBNXPLRNG was born, a project combining urban exploring with an element of randomness and discovery. While developing this concept, I noticed how refreshing it was not to have to choose which direction to take myself. The schema that determines whether you go left, right, or straight ahead forces you to look at your environment differently. Suddenly, inconspicuous alleyways become interesting, and everyday scenes become perfect photographic subjects. It's astonishing how many hidden stories can be found in a city when you let go of your habits.
I developed this concept into a downloadable schema (see below) and shared it in my photography newsletter Darkrooms. Several photographers took up the challenge and sent in their series. I compiled these in a special edition of Darkrooms Magazine. Each photographer, guided by the same schema but with their own perspective, managed to tell a unique story about their city. Series from New York, Hamburg, Barcelona, Montreal, and Puth (Limburg) graced this edition. This collection proves that even the most familiar places reveal new secrets when viewed with fresh eyes.
What is RBNXPLRNG?
RBNXPLRNG (Urban Exploring) is a photographic walk where you share your city perspective in five photographs. The concept is as simple as it is fascinating: you start at a self-chosen point in your city, follow a predetermined direction schema, and take five photos along the way that together tell your story. This unique photographic journey combines chance with creativity, where each intersection offers a new opportunity to capture the unexpected.
Why Participate?
This photo assignment transforms an ordinary walk into a creative journey where you'll view your city with fresh eyes, push your photographic boundaries, and make unexpected discoveries. By participating, you'll join photographers from different cities in sharing unique perspectives of urban life.
Enhance your photo walk experience with the app
I'm excited to share a digital companion to our photo walk schema: a web-based application that adds an element of surprise to your photographic journey. This interactive tool guides your exploration by randomly generating directions for each of your five shots, pushing you beyond your usual photographic comfort zone and into unexpected territory.
Here's how it works: After each photograph, the app provides you with a new random direction – perhaps "turn left at the next corner" or "head straight for one block." This gentle nudge toward the unknown helps break familiar patterns and leads to more spontaneous, authentic captures of urban life.
Once you've completed your five-photo series, you'll have the opportunity to submit your work for possible publication in an upcoming special edition of Darkrooms Magazine. This edition will showcase how different photographers interpret and capture their cities when guided by chance, creating a unique collective portrait of urban spaces worldwide.
To get started, access the web app in your browser (no download needed) at https://borgstijn.nl/rbnxplrng/
Looking forward to seeing your perspectives in an upcoming special issue of Darkrooms Magazine.
So grab your camera, open the web-based app https://borgstijn.nl/rbnxplrng/ and head out. Who knows what hidden gems are waiting to be discovered in your city?
That’s it for this newsletter.
Till next time,
EDIT
I made a follow up on this article when I found a Stanford study on walking and creativity:
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Cool, maybe it's about time to do it again (in a nearby city ;-)
I like the element of complete randomness. I might give this a go in Guangzhou, or maybe try it in a different city I'm only visiting.