Roger Ackling and the Ideal Moment: Reimagining Art School Pedagogy With Ecological Perception and Enactive Practice

“One of the things that is often not discussed in relation to landscape is that the outside world is, in some ways, an outer reflection of an inner state... When the two come together, it seems like an ideal moment.” (Ackling:1994)

This statement aligns with ecological thinking and enactivism (Varela, 1991) by inviting us to consider perception as a process of active participation – a relational field in which environment and consciousness co-emerge.

Roger Ackling did not depict landscape; but collaborated with it. He burned marks into driftwood using a magnifying lens, these were not imposed upon nature but co-produced through time, weather, light, and embodied attentiveness. His pedagogy discouraged dominating materials and fast outcomes; instead encouraging receptivity and attentiveness. He urged students to "step to one side," to listen, and allow the work to emerge through its conditions rather than against them. Hence modelling an ethos of ethical and aesthetic co-creation.

We argue Ackling’s art and pedagogy offer compelling alternatives. Both call for a reorientation: not toward transcendence of the world, but toward deeper participation in it. This can help us rethink our relations to both environmental and pedagogical ecologies challenging art schools to move beyond product-driven models toward pedagogies grounded in attunement, reciprocity, and co-becoming with place.