top of page

#0014# .Depositioning.

Updated: Jun 29, 2022

Once again, I’ve been reproached for lack of explicit positioning in my work. Who am I, where my accent comes from, what do I do, and who does me? I assume it harks back to the ancient idea of “artistic genius”, occasionally making the artist’s persona equally – if not more – interesting than their works. In this case, the commentator had not even encountered my work; they reached immediately for the subject position and were unhappy with my answer. In the times of identity politics and cancel culture, I would guess that it is not even interest for the persona that triggers such questions but the “need to know” whether the work comes from a virtuous enough place. When the authorial position is unstated, forming an opinion is risky. What if I like it, but it comes from the wrong place? Oh, dear...


Justas Pipinis My Swedish Heritage (2022)

Now, I don’t dispute that we are always positioned. Our material reality is such that if we do exist, we literally take place – somewhere. And it seems to translate to our thinking and meaning creation as well. Our words acquire meanings in relation to other words, we build “mind maps” to orient ourselves in our flow of consciousness, and we wrap our experiences in concepts from pre-existing linguistic structures full of implied hierarchies, synonymies and antonymies. And, sure thing, contextualisation of the work can provide helpful information for its interpretation. Some works may even be incomprehensible or verge on the dull outside of the context of their creation, e.g., if their key content is a reference to that context. Luc Tuyman's "Gas Chamber" (1986) and Wilfredo Prieto's "The Soap And The Spring Flirt, While Someone Else Is Making A Transaction In The Black Market" (2018) come to mind as tentative examples. Tentative, since contextual reference is contained in the title already and not derived from a particular positioning of the artist outside the work itself.


Anyway, this reasoning also implies existence of the “right” interpretation of the work. The context acts then as a restrictive frame that directs interpretation. “Oh, so they did this ‘because’ and ‘in order to’ and therefore it must ‘mean’ this”. Many artworks seem modelled on communication theory (transmissions of messages, coding-decoding), and art appreciation classes often train the audiences accordingly. In many cases, that is appropriate - the works mentioned above would not work otherwise.


However, in my own practice, I rarely care to communicate things I already know. Rather, I want to stage situations where something unexpected can unfold, giving rise to new meanings. Therefore it would be counterproductive to provide a framing that would point back at me and my position, narrowing down possible meanings to derivatives of my personal history, material composition and artistic intents. My work points to something I am curious about, and I wish to explore it together with my audience without too much prejudice. To find novel ways to engage with the world that are not limited to psychoanalysis of the artist or reproduction of culture, ideology, norms or other things already known. Clearly, in the process, I’ll have to get used to being criticised for the lack of positioning. Unless..! Unless I start playing around with it, exploring what meanings disruption of positioning could generate. 😈


20 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
#1240#

#1240#

#1239#

#1239#

#1238#

#1238#

Comments


Creative practice PhD project "Porosity of the Frame" by Justas Pipinis. Keywords: uncertainty, framing, sensemaking.

bottom of page