This thesis is divided into two parts. Part One, entitle “Working Through Condensation” describes a type of practice, Part Two, entitled “The Tourist and the Tourist Tout”, unravels and explores what was discovered through that practice. The intersection of two personal discoveries have been formative in my art practice. The first relates to the Indian Hindu and Buddhist concept of formlessness found in certain Tantric cosmogonies. This began, for me, an interest in the phenomenon of emptiness as an ontological awareness of how “art” or “creativity” happens. The second event was the hearing of a phrase, which I call a found phrase. The phrase, “working through condensation”, suggested a metaphoric tool for conceptualising my practice, through an analogous use of the process of condensation. I was struck by a similarity between my conception of the above found phrase and Tantric cosmogeny. In Part One of this thesis, I develop a link between elements in Tanta cosmogony, the found phrase and the Situationist Internationalist practice of derive as a basis for practice. This thesis has been largely constituted by three research journeys to India, where the conception and results of this practice unfolded.
