The paradigm of an endless or irresolvable quest can be witnessed in the practice of artists Heather and Ivan Morison, where the staging of grand, episodic adventures or global expeditions appears to produce only ever slight or dematerialised; idiosyncratic or obscure, or else highly personal or anecdotal outcomes. Whilst the performative element of a quest or journey is often central to their practice, the actual motivation for the (re)search itself often remains nonsensical or absurd; poetic or purposeless. It often functions as a ruse or foil through which to undertake an alternative trajectory of enquiry; to create points of arbitrary focus such that they may then explore the resultant peripheries. In 2003, they proposed to undertake a year-long period of research, which would take the form of an irredeemably impossible 'global survey'. Travelling across the Baltic States, Russia, Western Siberia, Mongolia, China and New Zealand, their “quest was to explore without prejudice and to record and broadcast their observations”; where akin to “a pioneering exploration there (was) no end destination, only points to navigate by”. Ambiguous and undeclared, the specific nature of their research was deliberately open-ended and indeterminate. Opportunity and chance encounter were adopted as the critical decision making processes, where relational encounters and conversational exchange plotted the route taken or determined the motivation for each episode of the adventure.
Emma Cocker, 'Not Yet There: Endless Searches and Irresolvable Quests', 2007

The couple’s work has increasingly departed from the garden in recent times, but it seems to have carried with it the same preoccupations, whilst also demonstrating that nature, land, places, aren’t the anchor of their interests by any means. In 2003 they undertook a roaming residency with the media arts organisation Vivid, which was known as Global Survey. It was a ‘modern expedition’, a journey of discovery and documentary, but one that was led, with more than a little randomness, by people rather than places. Obviously, practicalities dictated some of the stop-offs, but the principle of the trip was to allow chance suggestions to lead the way. So, when they met someone who suggested they ‘must see the Siberian larches in Russia’ - just as one always says, half seriously, "you really must see the whatevers in whatever" - that is just what they did. However, when they arrived they found that all the trees were being cut down, and so, responding as they often do to a shock, they issue a brief communication: "Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Morison do not understand it. Why are they cutting down all the Siberian larches? Archangelesk, Russia". Along the way they made field recordings, and sent printed cards and messages back documenting the people they met and their observations along the road. One might have expected this project to occasion their earlier work, to flower into global, environmental concerns. Instead they seem more preoccupied by the fact that one man’s jewel is another man’s rubbish.
Morgan Falconer, 'Mr and Mrs Ivan Morison / Gertrude Jekyll and Hyde', Foundation and Empire, Article Press, 2004.

The art of Ivan and Heather Morison has expanded beyond gardening and its related activities of floristry and fruit and vegetable selling into the more specialist realms of dendrology and forestry, ice fishing and birdwatching. The title of their project, Global Survey, is deliberately grandiose, and the artists acknowledge that they have set themselves an impossible task and have no final destination in sight, but their wit and enthusiasm has already enabled them to travel across vast areas of the world.
Mary Horlock, Art of the Garden, exh. cat., Tate Britain, 2004, p.209.

During the Morison's roaming research residency, Global Survey, together with media arts organisation Vivid, the tone of the observations changed as they travelled from Scandinavia to the Baltic States, through Siberia, China and Mongolia. Initially full of marvel and wonder, the recordings become bleaker with the deteriorating physical conditions echoed in their writings. An expedition of discovery and documentary that allowed random factors to influence the programme, Global Survey was full of unexpected incidents.
Erica Burton and Victoria Preston, Human Nature, exh. cat., Pumphouse, 2004

Global Survey
2003

Supported by Vivid through the hothaus program, Birmingham, UK

The project can be found at www.globalsurvey.org