Four in one / video / mini dv / color / 8:30min / 2010
The work entitled 4 in 1 is a self-reflection of and upon the impact of my art as
observed in a broader social, cultural and political context. The multiplication of
Igor Bošnjak as an artist, critic, theoretician and curator tells the story of personal
‘schizophrenia’ and a split identity, striving to be in the current, alert, attentive
and sensible, dynamic and successful in his community.
N. M.: Deleuze and Guattari introduced the term schizoanalysis to make up for
the failure of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis channels desire by means of
censure and auto-censure. In that way, the subconscious and unconscious serve
the preservation and reproduction of the system, instead of liberating man, in
accordance with their unlimited creative potential. According to their theory,
those are the ultimate limits of capitalism. Schizophrenia thus becomes the
essential determinant of postmodern culture, a sort of media ecstasy, i.e. media-
generated collective fanaticism. In the work 4 in 1 you multiply (clone) yourself
into four Igor Bosnjaks. You act simultaneously as an artist, theoretician, critic
and curator, creating a multiple schizotypal personality. Does the splitting of the
contemporary artist's personality relate only to your experience of creating up-to-
the-minute art forms, or may this work be interpreted as common for the practice
of art nowadays? Is this construct applicable to the broader social environment
you work in?
I. B.: Anti-Edipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia opens up new possibilities for
reading and understanding the role of the subject in today's global society. The
video work 4 in 1 is perhaps the most explicit expression of this, of this very
desire, i.e. of the relations between subjects and desiring-machines. Decoding
fluxes and deterritorialising the Socius thus represent the strongest tendencies of
capitalism. It is constantly coming closer to its limits. It strives with all its might
to produce a schizophrenic as a subject of decoded fluxes on a body without
organs. When it is said that schizophrenia is our illness, the illness of our time,
this does not only mean that modern living makes people crazy. In fact, we wish
to say that capitalism, in its process of production, creates a powerful
schizophrenic charge, which it suppresses with all its repression tools, but which
does not stop from being reproduced as the limits of the process. It is exactly
through the agency of this imposed framework that capitalism restores all kinds
of artificial, imaginary or symbolic territorialities, within which it tries to re-code
those individuals who have broken free from abstract quantities. In a way, 4 in 1
attempts to dymistify the generally acceptable stances and norms in the system of
art. The splitting of my personality as seen in this work comes from my practice
of contemporary art, my theoretical writing and thinking, work as a critic, as well
as some curating projects I have been involved in. The linear narrative reading
and exposition of me as multiplied, i.e. of me as an artist, then as a theoretician,
as a critic and finally as a curator (who is lighting a cigarette in a theatrical
manner, while the artist, theoretician and critic are looking on silently), really
speaks about the currently dominant position of the curator. Because in my
opinion, today, the whole system of art, the global art market, the great biennial
exhibitions are mere playgrounds used by curators to make decisions and select.
What the artist, theoretician or critic do is not too important. In fact, everything is
sublimated through the curator's selection, who decides on who is an artist and
what is art today. For, the schizophrenic is positioned at the very limits of
capitalism: he is its strong tendencies, its hyperproduct, proletarian and angel of
death…
observed in a broader social, cultural and political context. The multiplication of
Igor Bošnjak as an artist, critic, theoretician and curator tells the story of personal
‘schizophrenia’ and a split identity, striving to be in the current, alert, attentive
and sensible, dynamic and successful in his community.
N. M.: Deleuze and Guattari introduced the term schizoanalysis to make up for
the failure of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis channels desire by means of
censure and auto-censure. In that way, the subconscious and unconscious serve
the preservation and reproduction of the system, instead of liberating man, in
accordance with their unlimited creative potential. According to their theory,
those are the ultimate limits of capitalism. Schizophrenia thus becomes the
essential determinant of postmodern culture, a sort of media ecstasy, i.e. media-
generated collective fanaticism. In the work 4 in 1 you multiply (clone) yourself
into four Igor Bosnjaks. You act simultaneously as an artist, theoretician, critic
and curator, creating a multiple schizotypal personality. Does the splitting of the
contemporary artist's personality relate only to your experience of creating up-to-
the-minute art forms, or may this work be interpreted as common for the practice
of art nowadays? Is this construct applicable to the broader social environment
you work in?
I. B.: Anti-Edipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia opens up new possibilities for
reading and understanding the role of the subject in today's global society. The
video work 4 in 1 is perhaps the most explicit expression of this, of this very
desire, i.e. of the relations between subjects and desiring-machines. Decoding
fluxes and deterritorialising the Socius thus represent the strongest tendencies of
capitalism. It is constantly coming closer to its limits. It strives with all its might
to produce a schizophrenic as a subject of decoded fluxes on a body without
organs. When it is said that schizophrenia is our illness, the illness of our time,
this does not only mean that modern living makes people crazy. In fact, we wish
to say that capitalism, in its process of production, creates a powerful
schizophrenic charge, which it suppresses with all its repression tools, but which
does not stop from being reproduced as the limits of the process. It is exactly
through the agency of this imposed framework that capitalism restores all kinds
of artificial, imaginary or symbolic territorialities, within which it tries to re-code
those individuals who have broken free from abstract quantities. In a way, 4 in 1
attempts to dymistify the generally acceptable stances and norms in the system of
art. The splitting of my personality as seen in this work comes from my practice
of contemporary art, my theoretical writing and thinking, work as a critic, as well
as some curating projects I have been involved in. The linear narrative reading
and exposition of me as multiplied, i.e. of me as an artist, then as a theoretician,
as a critic and finally as a curator (who is lighting a cigarette in a theatrical
manner, while the artist, theoretician and critic are looking on silently), really
speaks about the currently dominant position of the curator. Because in my
opinion, today, the whole system of art, the global art market, the great biennial
exhibitions are mere playgrounds used by curators to make decisions and select.
What the artist, theoretician or critic do is not too important. In fact, everything is
sublimated through the curator's selection, who decides on who is an artist and
what is art today. For, the schizophrenic is positioned at the very limits of
capitalism: he is its strong tendencies, its hyperproduct, proletarian and angel of
death…
