Would this project benefit from positioning? Referencing what? Artist bio? But I don’t want to lead anyone on toward psychoanalytical interpretations when not dealing with self-expression. Artistic precedents? In my practice, they are more productive as afterthoughts. I don’t want to exhaust the meaning of the work by analogy too early. Philosophers? But early philosophical alignments risk resulting in mere illustrations for the theoretical standpoints. Community of practice? That stealthily invokes the institutional theory. Every positioning activates a framework. But I don’t want to prescribe a frame; I want to make visible the frames that the audience brings along.

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Another complication is that I don’t assume my “position” to be static. Quite the contrary, I wish to expand my awareness of various available positions and “try them on”. But still, I am always positioned somewhere. Humans cannot exist without occupying a place. And even if I don’t mean to get rooted anywhere, some inertia, friction and complacency keep slowing me down, anyway. Thus, some aspects of positioning may be more prevalent than others. Here I will try to register them as I become aware of them.

 

PREFERRED ARTISTIC QUALITY: My main interest is to trigger new meanings. They do not have to reflect “true knowledge” about the world or convey messages from the artist. I just want to destabilise ingrained patterns of thought to facilitate the emergence of new perspectives and experiences. To keep the sensemaking in flux, not let it set. This open-ended micro-rewiring of perception differentiates art from, e.g., science, religion, politics or news that also push new meanings - but by seeking to establish conventional facts, truths or norms rather than stimulating more personal and independent engagement with the world. 

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PREFERRED MEDIUM: Ongoing situation. An artwork – be it a tiny pencil drawing or a complex installation with a performance – is always situated in the world. Somehow. That “somehow” implies framing, an interface that helps to distinguish the work from its surroundings but also embeds it in them, materially and discursively. Situating is always site-specific and involves negotiation – permission to take place, time and attention; tolerable modes of presentation and engagement; acceptable materialisations, connotations and interpretations. Latent meanings get revealed, and new ones emerge through negotiation, making situating an inseparable part of my work. In some ways, maybe even its core. The expanded notion of framing as a situation involves many more aspects than just the physical edge of an artwork, connecting it more distinctly to meaning-making.

 

PREFERRED MODE OF ENGAGEMENT: Openness to unscripted participation. I often find the creative process more enjoyable and meaningful than its outcomes. Thus, I am keen to let the audience take part in the process as well – whether as observers or contributors. However, the distinction between the process and its outcome is not always clear-cut. Some processes – like performances or discussions -do not produce things, while things can also serve as process triggers. They may facilitate new meaning generation when introduced in different environments or subjected to novel modes of engagement. Thus, a situation is always a process, and it tends to be more productive of new meanings when an audience is involved and given a license to improvise. 

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15-SEPT-2022