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14
Hello Arpi and welcome to NotRandomArt. The current issue is revolving around the problem of communication and identity. Is there any particular way you would describe your identity as an artist but also as a human being in dynamically changing, unstable times? In particular, does your cultural substratum/identity form your aesthetics?
Hi, thank you for having me. I particularly like your choice of word “communication”. Indeed, I like to compare my art to the phenomena of human relations. How humans are able to communicate and relate to each other is one of the most important concerns I have had in life. I find it especially difficult to connect with others and express myself with words. I think many artists share this challenge of communicating through speech, and art provides an alternative outlet by which to express themselves. I mean, I chose art as a tool to share my minds with others, to succeed where my tongue failed. Like my tongue is not functional enough and there are not enough words for me to express my thoughts and feelings. So, I am not very good at talking, especially about myself. Above all, art is the means by which you discover yourself .
Art is an egoistic as well as altruistic means of achieving harmony with yourself; I don’t know :))
Would you like to tell us something about your artistic as well as life background? What inspired you to be in this artistic point in your life when you are now?
Since my childhood I have faced the terrible feeling of estrangement. I don’t know how to describe it; it's a feeling that makes you suffer and always persecutes you. It is the feeling of not fitting into your environment. And you cannot accept that reality. Now, of course, I understand that this happens with many people, but it was more painful in childhood. When you nonstop analyze and still can’t understand why you do not fit into society. Sometimes I tried to pretend that I am one of them. Unfortunately, I was doing it very badly. And then I discovered this “refuge” called Art.
I started to love the world, I guess…
I think inspiration is an uncontrollable emotional process. You can't memorize from whom, and when you got inspired. Anything can be an inspiration. But mostly I inspired myself; maybe it sounds weird.
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about your identity as a participant of the visual culture?
Oh, that’s a very interesting question. I haven’t thought about it. I can’t think of only one art piece at this moment. But I think I was mostly inspired by Futurists, Dadaists and, of course, by Surrealists. I was inspired not only by the visual art but also literature, etc. They shared with humanity the huge motivation and opportunity of ability to create something out of nothing. They helped us to look for more than we could see. They used to say to the new generation to throw themselves into the garbage. I think these kinds of things in art history inspired me more than the popular masterpieces in which people constantly are looking for some mystery and discovering new things with the greatest ecstasy (and wasting millions for sure). Not all but many famous masterpieces, even the priceless ones, do not touch my heart—I am sorry to say that.
What is the role of memory in your art process? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve any kind of translation of your experiences of living in many places with such different cultural and social environment.
Memory, probably at the subconscious level, may visit us from time to time. I can't say if my memories are playing a significant role in my art.
I think ‘’humanity ‘’ always glimpse from all that ’’ mess’’ (regardless of ideology, mentality, religion, etc)… And that is what should unite us.
What is the role of technique in your practice? In particular are there any constraints or rules that you follow when creating?
The only principle that guides me in my work is to escape from rules as far as it is possible. The world imposes on us a system that is clogged with all sorts of nuisance. I think that art is the only “place” where I need to get rid of rules. Art is itself a rule.
I would say even a church.)))
And as for the technique, I'm always search for my type of technique again and again. I hope I will give up some day. ☺
How do you see the relationship between emotional and intellectual perception of your work? In particular, how much do you consider the immersive nature of the viewing experience?
As far as I followed the views of people, when they watched my film project, I had noticed the admiration and thoughtful looks on their faces. Socrates said, “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think” . I guess I agree with him. I tried to focus people's attention on this issue [of emotional and intellectual perception] too. I think the human face speaks really much more about itself than the mind or tongue. The rest of expression—talking, smiling (mostly for no reason) manners, etc.—are just extra accessories for human behavior.
texts, movies, plays, visual artworks and to think about on what we saw or read.. Thanks to her that I met Pierre Vincke, a theatredirector who was worjink in the tradition of Grotowski ... Both of them have led me to go to theater school. In this school I had meetings. Meetings with artists but also and especially human beings that made me discover. I always need o discover rather than to master a practice. It's probably the reason my encounter with Monica Klingler and Boris Nieslony was decisive for me and led me on the path of Performance Art which is a form still difficult to define. Each performance artist has a different definition of what it is...
Could you identify a specific artwork that has influenced your artistic practice or has impacted the way you think about race and ethnic identity in visual culture?
No I don't have a specific artwork that has influenced my artistic practise but many.
I'm influenced by some philsophers as well as poets or musicians or dancers or visual artists but also by some places or landscapes or atmospheres ... For some years, I was used for example to go to India where I was used to follow some traditionnal muscians or to learn bharatanatyam and practice vipassana meditation... Of course this experience has impacted my art work.... This brought me to think and work differently... My experience in India brought me to discover traditionnal strong art and paradoxally to the way of Performance Art. But there I see one common point: to make no separation between art and life and to be here and now, without projection on the future.
It's difficult for me to speak about race and ethnic identity. But I can say that today we miss more and more this notion of “to be here and now” which is more present in some cultures ... By practising Performance Art, it's my way to be connected to this way of thinking. And even in this field actually it's more and more difficult. The society and the art world brings us more and more to plan in advance, to define our work, more than to do. Just to do. To do what we deeply need.
And of course, my encountering with Black Market International and later the notion of Open Source or Open session via PAErsche have also a big impact on my work. When we go on that, each of us perform by sharing time and space but without trying to convince each other on some common way. This is for me a wonderfull way how we can meet each other, regardless of our origin, our race or our “identity”...
Many of your works carry an autobiographical message. Since you transform your experiences into your artwork, we are curious, what is the role of memory in your artistic productions? We are particularly interested if you try to achieve a faithful translation of your previous experiences or if you rather use memory as starting point to create.
My memory is clearly a starting point to create. I don't have any autobiographical message. I use my personnal experience ( what I feel , what I see, what I learn, what I ear...) to work. It's a motor or a material. I'm not able to paint, so I can't do something with red or white or yellow or black colors. All I have is life, a body alive. And I need to do something with that...
My sensation about life sometimes is too intense then I need to transform this intensity in some action. Some artistic action... If people can take something from this action this is great... but I don't want to give them “a specific message” or to control the translation of my experience.