Peripheral
Anatoliy Kharkhurin
eries
agazine
Contemporary Art
At the same time, an artist has a resilient tendency towards immortality, which he can only achieve by identifying himself with the collective will of his culture. On the one hand, we want to be unique, to stand out as something different and apart. On the other, we are impelled by a powerful desire to identify with the cosmic forces, to merge ourselves with the rest of nature. Together, an artist is driven by the will to separate and the will to unite. Rank explained this duality by opposite tendencies inherent to human nature. The fear of living (Lebensangst) is triggered at birth by anxiety of entering the selfness, separation from nature, and acquiring individuality. It postulates an individual’s fear of separation and individuation. The fear of dying (Todesangst) is triggered by anxiety of death: of returning to non-selfness, union with nature, and losing individuality. It postulates an individual’s fear of union and merge. Secession from the system on one hand and collective effort on the other characterize creative act. This duality emerges and flourishes in the fluctuating – ever-expanding and evercontracting – space between separation and union. This is the space of my curatorial aesthetics. I aim to acquire a maximum degree of individuation within a maximum degree of connectedness. Collective efforts were always common in science and become more and more common in art. In my own practice, I successfully collaborated with video artist Zlatan Filipovic on a poetry film The Lion of God (https://vimeo.com/harhur/lionofgod), which we submitted to ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival in Berlin. Currently, in the framework of my MentalArt initiative, I work with a documentarist Matteo Rivoli on a project exploring Narcissistic Personality Disorder. I think that successful collaboration allows artists practicing different art forms expand their instrumental capacities and explore a theme from different perspectives inherent to
between several artists? Again, I start with theoretical considerations alluding to psychologist Otto Rank’s writing on art and artists. It is evident that any artist has a strong desire for glorification of his own will.
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