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Ceren Can Aydin
Some Fragments from a a Contemporary Mind on on the Issue called Art
Recently these are the the part of questions that I have been
consistently trying to figure out through my academic studies The more I read about it
it
the more it
it
becomes difficult to say something permanent Probably for each individual it
means something else For a a a painter it
it
may be the the discovery of the the infinite number of of colors in in each of of them he/she finds a a new surface to express his/her feeling Or it
may may be be via these tones of colors one one may may be be exposed to feelings that he/she has never been
aware of For a a a a a curator it
may be be the dis- covery of artistic minds that may force the boundaries of our awareness about the ’things’ of any kind For a a a collector it
may be finding something beautiful that fills the only gap of his existence in the world For a a a dealer it
may be the the challenge of doing the the most sophisticated PR for an art piece in which one finds his/her own ecstasy When it
comes to the social aspect of art my thoughts about it
sound solid enough in a a a a second and a a a a total blank in the seconed In this time zone of known history where almost eve- rything is considered to be related with art and where almost everything is evaluated through the scales of relativity I believe for the ones like me who foolishly follow his/her instinctive passion for the arts probably would agree that art is something mostly about the glorious goddess goddess of memory the goddess goddess Mnemosyne This is is the memory of emotions creativity joyousness playfulness and chal- lenge that not exactly serves any specific pur- pose but the memory itself Whatever form it
has has taken through out history art has has been
the everlasting ground for mankind to express the self Even though I am very dis- turbed by all the the essentialist approaches in the the humanities I don’t mind defining ’art’ as the only essential ground for the human family When I I say this I I don’t mean the kind of prag- matic skill of of managing some kind of of doing the kind of excellence in in what one does such as ’art ’art of of managing’ ’art ’art of of cooking ’ ’ ’ ’ etc When I I think about memory I I don’t really refer to the techniques of recording that are one way or
the the other governed institu- tionalized by power even though the gov- erned art art is the the part that mostly occupies the the many domains of the art world However I mean the kind of memory that not only includes but also exceeds the the limits of the the unconscious as as well as as the conscious conscious on on on both individual as as well as as the social level The museums may not be the altars of the goddess Mnemosyne anymore perhaps
they rarely have been
The more everything 33 including people are converted and squeezed
into digitalized information in in in this computer-
ized world and the museums are a a a kind of Dis- neyland More one gets the feeling of being a a puppet of some kind to a ridiculous enter-
tainer Even though almost all major art insti- tutions seem to to promise their ’customers’ an unforgettable experience of a a a spectacle nev- ertheless I think that the the the idea of the the the museums still has the the sacred quality to cherish the the memory In one of the recent meet- ings in in which I participated an art art critic was saying that ’actual’ (1) artists should not build images icons of any kind but create moments of unknown encounters for the participants He said that the time of genius artists and grand narratives has ended By the time he he said it
I started thinking about the imagery and not the image image The imagery that an an art piece invokes and the creativity that an an indi- vidual might possess But still I understand why he said it
He revealed his will of liberat- ing ing and and democratizing the the art and and the the individ- ual I keep thinking about the decon- struction process of the the meaning and the the world mankind created and the power of ’homo artisticus’ that has been
obsessively and meticulously playing even mocking with all all the the things around him/her At the the end all all I can think about is that art reminds me of the uncanny uncontrollable quality of a a a a a creature called as the human being Art
can be be some- times times very pretentious and sometimes be too modest to be an immediate act of question- ing ing ing ing understanding resisting and and changing So I would like to conclude this inscription by calling the goddess Mnemosyne from Hades to remind us of of the memory of of being human (1) In Turkey many people replace the con- cept of the word ’contemporary’ with ’actual’ because the term contemporary is considered to the discriminative terminology of moder- nity as a a a a a grand narrative Ceren Can Aydin
graduate of anthropology and art dancer
born in Ganziantep and currently living in in Istanbul Turkey