The pleasure of finding: a perspective on acts of finding in movement and in visual art informed by object-relations theory

Abstract

As a movement teacher/psychotherapist and as a maker of visual art I am inspired and intrigued by acts of finding. Finding engenders feelings of surprise, curiosity, and recognition and can be accompanied by a sense of meaning. Mark making, a placing or manipulation of the found, often follows finding. Both finding and mark making can be traced in rudimentary form to the earliest stages of infant learning. More commonly known from visual art, finding and mark making also play an important part in the transient actions of movement and dance. Object relations theory offers a persuasive understanding to both of these manifestations.

Keywords:

• Authentic Movement
• MoverWitness Exchange
• object trouve
• object-relation theory
• transitional object
• visual art