Long ago, when I was first exploring ideas about the outdoors as art and art as adventure, artist Bas Jan Ader inevitably came up.
Tragically and famously, he disappeared while sailing a small boat across the Atlantic.
This Hyperallergenic article is a great description of his work.
When I was 16 and at college, 50 years ago, there was a question you asked to see if a person was cool or not.
You would ask “What’s yer favourite Gong album?”
Any name given, from Camenbert Electrique (my favourite), to Angel Egg or Flying Teapot would do.
But “Who’s Gong?” would not do. Uncool.
Here they are from that time, long ago. Daevid Allen, the lead singer, was central; he was the pivotal figure over many years and band members.
So I was pleased to hear this from 2024…
They were a thing of a time and place, the place was France, and the time was the 70’s.
But it’s good to hear that the spirit lives on.
So what’s yer favourite Gong album?
Croci went into town
He went alone
The triad would unnerve them
Make them know they were not human
Make them know he was not a man
For this, a man he needed to be
So he put on a man’s clothes
And down he went
He was not impressed
Each flower or tree or beetle was it’s own
Yet alike
Like other flowers, trees or beetles
But the town
The human bits
Were just copies of copies of things
Things weren’t their own things
Things were largely identical
Underneath a paper thin page
Of printed words
Descriptions
Of blank verse by a blind hand
Someone wanted his help
Or at least they wanted
Someone to do
What he could do
They used big sounding words
But
Talk is cheap
So they wasted words
Capitalised, made bold
They bragged about what they would do
They wrote and
Did not read or heed
What was said
But a door had opened
So in he went
He answered their call
Besuited, sleek and smart
A con calling on a con
An aquisitive inquisitor, a nave
In the nave of a church
A maker of things meeting a taker of things
Croci would take a liberty
And settle a score
An ancient grudge
A theft
A stone stolen from an altar
Taken back from under their noses
They did not know it yet
After the initial noise
Their silence said it all
So
Listening, Croci entered their space
And was ignored
Entering under their empty busy chatter
Hearing themself thinking out loud
He knew he would be ignored again
He had told them what he would do
Was what they would do too
A confederation of cons
But being righteous
They were always right
So ready to be wronged
And robbed
This article is a follow-up to recent posts on ideas about curiosity and art as research.
It is about Process Art.
Process Art is a type of art where the emphasis is on the creative journey and the actions involved in making the art, rather than on the finished product. It encourages exploration, experimentation, and discovery with materials and techniques, allowing for a more open-ended and intuitive approach to art-making.
Process Art is a bona fide art movement in which the experience of art making is central. See this article here from the Tate Gallery and here from Wiki.
The process of art making is also central to the arts therapies. The end product is not the sole purpose of the work. The process of making is the source of therapy.
This article here from Krista Zeiter, a Teaching Artist at Rumriver Art Center and Art Therapist brings Kristas insight to the importance of a process focus to arts for health.
In the article, Krista says “One of the myths of art is that you must feel inspired, have endless ideas, or feel confident to create. But not-knowing allows innocence. Accepting imperfection yields compassion. Risking vulnerability opens the door to breakthrough and awe. This approach develops an awakened stance towards life that is centered yet expansive.”
Adventure is setting off with a direction, but not always a destination. The journey, the process, is the destination. Art making is always a bit of an adventure.
To read the article click the link above or to read the full article on a separate page, click page 2 below. (Contact me if the link below does not work.)
From Psychology Today
July 2, 2025
Curiosity is central to art making. It can be undertaken as a kind of adventure or as research in which we are curious to see what happens when we make some thing come into existence that has not ever existed before. The making of it will frequently bring up unexpected outcomes.
This article came into my newsfeed on July 2nd, and the author Jeff Wetzler, has done a great job of bringing a deft journalistic touch to a wealth of research evidence about curiosity with six clear ways curiosity is thwarted.
Jeff writes largely about curiosity about other people’s experience, and this is manifest in our encountering art made by other people. So in this sense, being open to art as insight into the experience of ‘the other’ intrinsically promotes diversity.
But personal arts practice as research may be understood to bring this insight into one’s own diversity.
The content is great call to embrace curiosity and I suggest viewing and doing art is a great way to nurture curiosity about others and the self. If one makes art outdoors, then the same curiosity may be nurtured regards the more-than-human world as well.
If you feel like you are in a state of writers block, or your curiosity to make art is diminished, the article may also have good advice as to possible causes and ways to unblock.
You can read the full article here on the original website and get access to other excellent articles by Jeff, or to view it on a separate page, click page 2 below. (Drop me a line if the pagebreak feature does not work.)
‘Placeness, Place, Placelessness’ is an interesting WP Blog about… well, Place.
Place is an easily overlooked component of experience and health. But health may not be altogether manageable through medicine and personal agency. Sometimes a place may benefit or detract from health. The author starts with John Snow’s 1854 famous map of cases of cholera and gives a great overview of place and health.
Here on Moving Space, I propose that outdoor spaces promote wellbeing if approached in the right way, and approaching the outdoors through art making is one of those ways.
Moving Space 