Art as Adventure (PDF)

This volume represents a collection of six essays written by artists and art historians about journeys to places and methods of practice that challenge perceived taxonomies. The artist as traveler has deep historical precedents as contemporary art production today, and has historically followed political, economic, and cultural expansion. The role of the artist as witness, reporter, geographer, collector, and educator exemplifies the significance of mobility, geographic and cultural mediation in the productions of art and visual culture, and the critical questions raised as a result.The book encompasses a variety of perspectives on how artist-travelers have embraced and contextualized the places, people, cultures and overall experiences encountered on their journeys. Each chapter unveils different and unique approaches which artists have taken in reacting and creating as part of a journey in which they are often the outsiders to the culture and place. Visual mappings conveying geo-locative walking data, recreations of indigenous ritual as installation, participatory video installations uncovering community perspectives, and a reflective diary about walking across lands affected by natural disaster are some of the ways these artists and historians examine the experiences the artists have encountered abroad. Each piece is completely unique, yet united in the act of journey and pursuit of alternative narrative born of the experience.