How does “art” work?
“The answer is the question’s misfortune” - Henri Poincaré
The moment in which a dream becomes narrated, it leaves its most private and nocturnal place in order to translate itself into a more public and diurnal moment — just as our scene aspires to do so, always on the delicate border line that exists between what is known as familiar and what is extraneous. This is the same ‘uncanny’ pathway that the artwork must accomplish, even in the passage between thought-thoughts (still pre-verbal) and their possibility of being expressed. More generally, it is what happens in the passageway between ‘private’ space and ‘public’ space. We learn how to use art for the purpose of enhancing our perceptual and communication skills, which strengthens our work with emotions. Working with such associations and interpretations elicited from selected works, participants can then further a nuanced emotional and self-awareness, as well as explore this sense of awareness’ impact on observations, engagement and communication skills. Participants use the exploration of art works to move beyond their perceptual habits so that they can ‘see anew’.
I will conclude this brief presentation of a personal journey with the words an artist expressed regarding what she would like to happen with the presentation of her works:
“I want the pieces to feel both familiar and strange … The work needs to call up multiple references and ideas all at once and often opposites at the same time. I want the pieces to evoke those questions that sit at the back of the mind. The ones you didn’t know you had. The once you don’t know words for yet.”