Unconscious Recognition and Materialization of Presence in the Visual Language of Dmitri Cavander
Keywords:
Dmitri Сavander, unconscious, presence, memory, matrixial space, affect, auraAbstract
The study was supported by an internal grant of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia (project No 47VG).
The article analyzes the phenomenon of unconscious recognition and the process of materializing the viewer’s presence in the visual language of the artist Dmitri Cavander. Special attention is given to the investigation of perception mechanisms that activate the work of the unconscious in the recipient and provoke their emotional engagement through the observation of oneiric images: empty urban landscapes, lonely interiors, and endless roads.
The work relies on the theories of G. Didi-Huberman, B. L. Ettinger, G. Deleuze, and F. Guattari, who consider art as a space of dialectics between the observed object and the viewer. Key concepts such as “aura”, “the uncanny”, “matrixial space” and “affect” are used to explain the interaction between conscious and unconscious perception. Through the analysis of Dmitri Cavander’s visual language, the phenomenon of “negative recognition” is revealed, where the observed images evoke a sense of connection with the viewer’s own memories. This effect is linked to traumatic memory, which makes possible the unconscious co-participation of the recipient in the meeting-event with the artwork, in which all participants are involved in a dynamic and interactive process.
A special role in perception is played by the affective connections between the image and the viewer, which allow the viewer to include his or her own body in the process and feel physically “inside” the image. Art is viewed as a specific way of thinking that creates a shared space between the artist and the viewer, where the rupture between different states of being and time is recognized as an opportunity for experiencing the vulnerability and fragility of memories transmitted through the memory of the other. Thus, the effect of co-presence in the artwork is conditioned by the activation of unconscious mechanisms of memory, desire, and anxiety, making art a space for experiencing loss and the loss of control over the past.
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