Landscape of Change is starting to demonstrate its usefulness, through the variety of people who are starting to "meet me there" in their imaginations.This is the story of one of them
In "What's the Good of Landscape of Change?" I explained that:
It enables me to bring together in my imagination many different individuals, initiatives, institutions, ideas and trends. I can "place" them all in this "Landscape of Change" which I picture as a largely unexplored landscape stretching ahead from the familiar places of the known Landscape of the Present that is already easily represented through photos and maps. As I place various Individuals, initiatives, institutions, ideas and trends in this imaginary landscape I can "see" how they relate.
Starting point
Last year I attended a talk by the sculptor Antony Gormley, I was interested in some things he said which, in my mind, connected to my interests in time, space, change and the role of artists, so I asked him to explain more at question time.
My question led to a conversation afterwards with an artist who had been in the audience. We agreed to continue our conversation sometime, which is how I came to be in a smart London studio recently, sharing the visual images I have so far, and exploring ideas of the Landscape of Change.
The beauty of the Landscape of Change is that it does enable ideas and dreams to be "placed" somewhere. Together we considered the various areas in the landscape, noticing areas that either or both of us might most usefully explore, and which areas would be best left to others. We talked about settlements and what we might help to build there.
Art and the area of education
We discovered that when it comes to making useful contributions, which build on previous experience, skills and heartfelt interests, then we'd probably meet up in the area of education. I hadn't expected that to happen.
Nothing is fixed yet in the Landscape of Change so in our conversation we were free to explore our visions and dreams about what kind of changed systems and facilities we would be helping to build. He talked about art, I talked about Dadamacademy, and we both talked about change. We had agreed to an hour and a half for our conversation and we ran out of time around the point that we discovered our shared interest in educational innovation.
I had taken Landscape of Change into a completely unfamiliar environment, where I could see that people were hard at work, and someone I had only met briefly had put aside a considerable chunk of time for me. At first I had felt slightly intimidated by my surrounding, wondering if he might feel our meeting was a waste of his time. We had connected well around the ideas. I had learned a lot during our conversation and my confidence in the value and appllicability of Landscape of Change had grown.
We've agreed that we'll have another Landscape of Change conversation - we want to deepen our joint understanding of what the "Art and Change Department" looks like at Dadamacademy.
An entry point for an overview
Until now I have had no way to express any connection between all my areas of interest. I have seen patterns behind them, but found it difficult to find the right entry point to share the overview with other people. Without the overview it's only possible to connect around specific areas of activity and information, which reduces the opportunites for sharing insightful knowledge between people who have very different areas of expertise.
Landscape of Change is proving to be an understandable starting point. I believe it can lead to a rich mix of conversations. I'm finding that all kinds of possibilities can be laid out in the landscape and there are areas to explore irrespective of people's specific experiences and perspectives. As more people join me in explorations, the more chances we have of enabling new patterns of understanding, communication, collaboration and good things in the Landscape of Change.
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