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#84 Residency in Italy

Off limits ideas

Where do ideas come from? At what moment do I decide to choose the right idea? Which ideas are wrong, and which are right? Can we even speak of this dichotomy of right and wrong, successful or unsuccessful? Are there any boundaries, or are they set merely to be surpassed on the path of continuous artistic transformation? These questions came to me during the first days of my residency in Naples.

Photo 1. Big Heavy Idea

The idea for writing this text was inspired by the motifs of artistic installations in the Naples subway, specifically the artworks that you can find at Vanvitelli underground station. The first installation that caught my eye is a huge exposed rock trapped within a glass wall, simulating its fracture under the weight of the big stone whom, with all its force, wants to break through the boundaries imposed upon it. The installation "Off limits" (Giulio Paolini) immediately evoked in me the sensation of weight but also the endless freedom that is coming from the artistic creation and practices within which we can constantly question our own performative position, very often from the angle of self-irony.

This theatrical installation plays in an ironic way with the spectator and pushes him to reflect on what it means to look at something. However, the mise en scène is deceptive: the large mass that seems to be breaking through its transparent enclosure is in reality light and suspended in mid-air, and the cracks in the transparent diaphragm are also false.

Photo 2. Off limits, artist Giulio Paolini

No matter how personal they may be, ideas ultimately in the very process of execution must in some way become false in order to be credible. For too strong an identification with the theme can also signify placing ourselves outside of a critical position and separating ourselves from our audience. Such an attitude signals the danger of excessive identification with the idea we present to the audience within the performative act, where there is still an imperative to distance ourselves, leaving enough space to question our own performative position in relation to our idea or performance itself. That distance gives us the opportunity to think "off limits" where we may perhaps to silence our inner critic who often censored us and doesn't allow us to going beyond our own limits during artistic creation and exploration.

And when we allow ourselves to create beyond all limits, that's when the real artistic story truly begins.

By Irena Boćkai
















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