Urban Algorithm - Nick Sulikowski

My idea for this was to explore an area I've been through countless times, but try to travel through it in such a way that it feels new and alien. I chose the Oxford Valley Mall in Langhorne, PA. I had one rule for how I would move about: whenever I came to a kiosk, stand, or any kind of booth that wasn't part of the built in stores I would alternate between turning left and right. So left at the first booth, right at the next, and so on. If I came to a corner, I would just follow it around. I came to no walls though. The result of this was that I ended up travelling in a couple loops around places that I'd been before, but the route take to get there was so different that I unconsciously felt a little lost. It was something as simple as being on the other side of the second floor mezzanine while passing by Radio Shack. I won't post all the booths as there's a considerable number, but I will say that eventually left turn left me walking straight into the entrance of a Forever 21, a store I've never been in, and probably wouldn't have were not for this. I couldn't prevent it as it wasn't a solid wall or a corner, but the door itself, right in front of me. At which point all I could do was keep walking straight through the store, where I decided to end my game.

Overall the experience was one of making a very familiar location feel totally unfamiliar, just by the routes taken to get to frequently visited stores.
Here's the first turn I made at a directory sign. I apologize for the blurry quality. I turned left, coming to a jewelry display, seen here on the far left

Here's the display itself where I hung a right, which from the perspective of this photo, would be forward.That turn would then bring me to a Bank of America ATM. This was an awkward moment as there was a man using it at the time, and I didn't wish to snap a photo of his pin. Hung a left here, which would a 180 from the perspective of this photo. That was another thing about snapping photos in a mall, which was that people were always within frame, potentially leading to awkward questions about what I was doing. Somehow that never happened though.

Here I took a right...

Which brought me to a corner, which I had to follow around,

until I was facing the Food Court again. The Bank of America ATM is behind the tree on the left.

After all this I think I think you get the general idea, so let's skip to the end:I'd actually passed by the Forever 21 multiple times during the experiment, and turn at that light blue stand several times. But it was this particular time, when I had to make a left, that I was forced to go straight inside. Entrance seen above.