Possible
Collaboration by:
Dina Palma, Jessie Leete, Emily Smith & Lindsay Reynolds
Inviting the Adjacent Possible
Research has revealed that 80% of us will retrace known paths and avoid opportunities that invite unknowns, while 20% of us will take a new path and explore our sense of adventure accepting invitations of the unknown and possible.
The Adjacent Possible is a concept rooted in evolutionary biology and theoretical physics developed by Stuart A. Kauffman (2002). It encourages us to explore our potential in the present moment and remain open to new ideas we might not have considered before. Put simply, we create more opportunities for growth through multiple, small acts than we could ever imagine. Instead of retracing known paths and limiting ourselves to what we already know, we can embrace the potential for innovation and growth that comes from learning and creating the things we didn’t know that we didn’t know. This mindset can be incredibly transformative, allowing us to break out of our habitual patterns and embrace a more creative and expansive approach to life.
Our sister company, START Creates invited the community to participate in The UnITy Show. 24 people accepted the invitation and their work is on display at Jack Jack's Coffee House in Babylon, NY. (If you are interested in participating in a show like this, START CREATES is currently accepting enrollment into their latest “It” project!)
The UnITy show blindly selected three artists to collaborate on one canvas to capture unity. The project pushed participants beyond their usual creative methods, challenging them to step out of their comfort zones. The artist could not share their process or outcomes with each other until the reveal at the opening reception. This meant that the first artists were faced with a blank canvas, while the second and third artists had to contribute to what some described as a "completed" piece and use techniques or materials never before explored. The collective excitement and anxiety to show up were high; thus, accepting an invitation to participate in the UnITy show meant many unknowns and possibilities.
The Fear of the Unknown
The fear, stress, or anxiety generated from accepting invitations to the unknown (like participating in the UnITy show) are not always negative. The tension that results from wanting to remain safe and secure but also wanting to grow helps us to realize that our fixed idea of what we are capable of is actually malleable.
When people experience anxiety related to “fear of the unknown,” this feeling may be rooted in humans’ instincts to avoid potentially risky and unpredictable situations for survival. Our brain often relies on patterns and predictability to maintain a sense of safety (physical, emotional, social, moral). Consider the lifestyle of early prehistoric humans, who had to rely on hunting and gathering to sustain life. If an unexpected storm occurred, anxiety would rise due to the threat of losing food sources or shelter. This instinct may stem from the idea that predictability equals survival, while unpredictability might signify potential threats or increased risks. However, our advanced intellects recognize that not all situations pose a life or death situation.
Our conscious brain may realize this when this feeling is applied to something such as a collaborative art project. We know that this is not about survival, but the instincts are rooted in emotional safety. As a result, our unconscious brain may project our own learned emotional experiences onto others as a way to alleviate our anxiety. The reason why specific song lyrics or TV shows stir up emotions within us is that our minds connect them with our own personal encounters. It's typical for individuals to have an emotional and sometimes intense reaction to art when it resonates with them on a personal level.
One group of artists from the UnITy Show (Jessie, Lindsay and Emily) volunteered to use their experience as an example of how to face the fear of the unknown in order to embrace the adjacent possible.
Adjacent Possible with an Audience: A Third Artist’s UnITy Experience (Emily)
My strength is painting portraits. Portraits are something I’ve practiced and perfected. For the UnITy Show, I received a canvas with textures, three-dimensional shapes, and abstract designs. What am I supposed to do with this? My first instinct is to add paint, but how? Where do I add it without it looking out of place? Maybe this piece is not asking for me to paint on it, maybe it is asking something else of me. Maybe I can embrace the idea of Adjacent Possible and try something new. The artwork already has its own voice, maybe I should listen to it and experiment until it feels right.
Starting on a canvas with styles and media present that do not align with what I was used to or best at posed a challenge: do I rest on what I know and allow the process to swallow me whole, or do I allow the process to catapult me on a new, and perhaps an uncomfortable, path to discovering how much more I am capable of creating?
This is a strong example of how The UnITy Show process embraced The Adjacent Possible. When we consistently stick to styles that we are comfortable with, we limit ourselves to what we can create. The UnITy Show removed the decision to stay in a creative “comfort zone” from the third artists by asking them to work on a canvas that already had creative expressions from two previous artists.
Having surmounted this challenge as both an individual artist and as a group came with feelings of accomplishment, freedom, acceptance, pride, and connection. There was an excitement to share this successful process with the community. However, the minute the artwork became public, it became open to criticism, thus resurfacing those initial feelings of doubt and uncertainty from the beginning of the process.
Showing an art piece in person at an art show and showing it online are two completely different experiences. In-person, my artwork is celebrated. If there were any thoughts of criticism they were never expressed. The experience is positive and seemingly validating. Showing my work for the UnITy show and my process on social media, on the other hand, opens up the opportunity to show more sides of the artwork; the process and collaboration. Social media is such a prevalent part of today’s society. Why not share this challenging and beautiful art process with others online? The thought was, maybe it will inspire people to work together or even to create more art.
The hope that others might connect with the process was more correct than anticipated. After 2 weeks, a video I posted on TikTok showing the process received over 110k views. At first, it was a happy feeling. Then the comments started coming in. Words from strangers who don’t know me or my fellow artists were also able to make their voices heard in our process. It was not just the 3 of us on the canvas anymore.
Some responses were positive and admiring. Other responses were defending the first artist suggesting I “overlooked” “covered up” and “took over” their work and the canvas. They were creating a narrative of victim and perpetrator.
This is a noteworthy part of The Adjacent Possible. When you take unfamiliar paths, you are also introduced to new environments. These new environments contain people who can judge, form opinions and offer new perspectives. Before we are even exposed to this, we often judge, ridicule or doubt ourselves!
Part of trying new things and growing a skillset is being vulnerable, humbled and even criticized. So many of us stay with what we know because it secures our emotional safety. We doubt we can do it. We really do not know what we are capable of (or what is lying in wait for us). So we begin to feel fear and anxiety. Many of us let those emotions dictate our behavior, so we shut down and remain still in the name of self preservation. But this also inhibits growth. It closes off opportunities for joy, fulfillment, and mastery.
Facing the Possible
It is said that “sticks and stones…” but many people seeing negative perceptions of something they thought they did right and were proud of brings up doubts of my abilities and creative decisions. I contemplated taking the video down because my reaction was that I was wrong in how I added to the piece and it was so wrong that it was making people upset. It prompted another conversation between me and my fellow artists in my group. I asked them how they REALLY felt about the finished piece. Did I overshadow them unintentionally? I didn’t think so. I knew the piece only became what it was because we all worked on it, but now I was questioning everything. Maybe they had just been nice and supportive. They were not just my group members, they were also my friends, so maybe I got it wrong.
It turns out I wasn’t wrong. I did what I was given permission to do: transform the piece, be inspired by the artists before me. I could breathe easier. I had to view these comments, not as a personal attack, but as an opportunity for others to feel something in the process. To create an open discussion on their thoughts, and where they were coming from. Maybe they identified with a part of the process and this platform gave them an opportunity to be heard and seen as well. I recognized that this piece for some could represent unity, but for others it exemplified interpersonal disparities. This reiterated the need for art in communities, not only for expression but to help start those difficult conversations with others and within oneself.
Embracing the Adjacent Possible: A First Artist’s UnITy Experience
Working on the UnITy show brought up some anxiety for Jessie (the first artist of Group 5):
Staring at a blank canvas (full of possibility) knowing that each mark or change I made would open infinite new possibilities and challenges for the next two artists made me feel like I was going to have a lot of strong influence on what could happen next. Since I happened to have a prior friendship with both artists before this project, it established the sense of safety I needed to take creative risks. For that reason, I decided to experiment with the foundational surface texture and shape of the canvas rather than draw something recognizable and representational.
In a sense, I expanded the surface, made it bigger, and created more space for the next two artists; not taking up a certain percentage of space and therefore limiting the amount of space left for Emily and Lindsay, but rather offering my own contribution and still providing them with more surface area than I even started with. Anything they added from that point forward would inevitably still consist of my work at its foundation.
Applying the Principles of Unity and Adjacent Possibility in Your Everyday Life
As human beings, we all want to feel a sense of harmony and purpose in our lives. Applying the principles of The Adjacent Possible can help us achieve this. The Adjacent Possible urges us to explore the countless opportunities that exist around us. By embracing the principles of The Adjacent Possible in our everyday lives, we can cultivate a greater sense of connection and creativity, and find meaning and fulfillment in the world around us.
What the UnITy show revealed is that working through any self-imposed rules or predictions based on past experiences led to encouragement and preparedness, empathy and compassion, self-awareness and flexibility, open-mindedness, and confident humility. Like Emily, when many of us discover the “new” and “possible” we will discover that we have the skills to solve things, how creativity works and promotes change, how we can restructure our thoughts about ourselves and our future, and that our future can be shaped and reshaped by our actions.
Take a calculated risk and discover your possibilities today.