…Artistic movement

“Fare forth” is the overwhelming imperative of our times.

Each according to her/his life style – on a white sofa fitted with wheels, in a shabby dinghy, or playfully in a portable pool like those invented by Andrea Zittel for personalised caravans in the nineties. We’re nomads, be it for pleasure or out of necessity. It’s a paradox, but despite the latest developments in electronic communication systems technology, instead of being induced to settle down our physical bodies seem to feel the urge, indeed the need, to be on the move more than ever before.
The simple fact is that every now and then we feel compelled to put a face to the messages we receive through these media.
A dwelling may even be thought of as a semi-mobile appendage, like the shell of a technological snail. The mobile homes of Atelier van Lieshout in the form of lorries or camper vans that conceal within their bellies a bed-chamber, a gun-room, a table for chemical experiments are an example. In this way wherever we may go we can take along with us the materialisation of our egos, our good qualities, fads, fancies, defects – the whole lot. After all, all it takes to turn the inside of a car into a dwelling is a plug and a power generator.
Even garments may be turned into dwellings, as recent research in the field of art has shown. Such is the case of the skirts in the form of ridge-tents invented by Lucy Horta. We’re once more in the hi-tech realm, often derived from extreme sports. Like for instance ultralight carbon fibres, the artificial fabrics used for making parachutes, the special zip fasteners and pockets applied to all parts of a space suit, that point the way to what will become commonplace in the future.

But are we just as confidently nomadic when it comes to our thought patterns?
Here, the going gets tough, especially since cracks and conspicuous identity losses have appeared in the edifice of that “parent company” commonly known as the “Western World”. The fact is that till yesterday we could move our bodies about without really ever departing from home.
Eating at McDonalds, going to the movies to see a Hollywood block-buster, donning a T-shirt, sleeping at the Hilton, and visiting a contemporary art museum in Tokyo or New York with more or less the same exhibits doesn’t change much in one’s familiar surroundings, wherever one may be, except perhaps the time zone. Knocking globalisation’s easy, but the short and simple of it is that the global business commuter is thankful for this sort of fare. It’s all comforting stuff that helps overcome the psychological jetlag.
But such uniformity is not at all so pervasive. The new China is proving impervious to our customs; India, Africa, South America are discovering a capacity for “doing their own thing” in many fields unthinkable till yesterday. It may all be great when one’s travelling as a tourist; how else could we gratify our throw-away adventure-lust? But when it comes to travelling for business, then it’s another matter altogether. When we’re not out on the make, what’s beyond our ken can stop being quaint and become terribly threatening and hard to cope with. It’s all very exciting at first but then a discomforting feeling sets in; we feel out of place and what’s different from the common fare gets to be irksome when not downright irritating.

It’s then that a place all to our own starts sounding like an interesting proposition.
Call it what you will: apprehension, world-weariness, or simply a yearning for something staid and steady. A solitary weekend in a house in the country may suffice.
Otherwise, as for John Turrel, the crater of an extinct volcano in the middle of the desert purchased from native-Americans and turned into a peaceful hideaway accessible
only by helicopter may be the answer. They say it’ll be completed over the next year.
Inside it’s already been appointed. It’s meaning, though, is clear: the key to being a nomad without wanting to take over the world is to build up an inner sense of independence and balance. Travel can be addictive and change a source of overwhelming anxiety. Having a pole star to take one’s bearings by from time to time, firmly feeling the ground under one’s feet, seeking one’s own direction can help in avoiding such extremes.