Fear

The topical relevance of this word led me to a series of reflections on the occult mechanisms which are the basis, genesis, growth and degeneration of fear. The artistic project which I have in mind develops around the psychological applications that this force has on human behaviour. The work involves four wall-mounted pieces and one central piece comprising mechanical and organic components which are intrinsically linked so as to create the idea of an engine – an organism which observed “from the inside”.

Aesthetically, the work is a formal metaphor and often allegorical, which in my dialectic betrays a deliberate theatricality; an “imperfect” throwback to Expressionism with its relative subjectivity which distorts and filters human reality. The choice of this scenographic and expressionistic approach belies my absolutely partial vision of the subject of the work. At no stage have I seen this work as an attempt to offer universal keys for an understanding of the issues raised.

Quite the contrary; I am looking for the ephemeral precariousness in constructing and never fully finishing that belongs to things and ideas which leave no lasting mark inasmuch as they are conceived by mortal and limited beings.

The “fear generator” – the installation as a whole – is constructed in an enclosed space (which lends itself better to the task in hand) and constructs, with a mechanical and para-scientific structure, the metaphorical development of that primordial pulse.

In general terms, the inspiration for the work comes from prevalently German avant-garde cinema with its visionary subjects and utopian futures populated by scientist-alchemists and laboratories in which research often transcends the laws of physics towards the dark realms of the imponderable and the occult. The biomorphic contraptions which people the installation must necessarily suggest potentially kinetic activity, but at the same time irredeemable immobility. This feature is part of work on DEAD MACHINES which I have been developing for many years and which finds its most complete and articulated expression here.

The effect must be that of violating an environment which had been buried for centuries or, in any case, for an unquantifiable length of time, profaning an alchemists laboratory in disuse, witness to a LOST SCIENCE, capable of transforming the abstract pulsations of the human soul into working structures and mechanisms.

The requirement that these contraptions not “work” arises from the sense of inevitable failure of any human attempt to understand ourselves. An ARCHAEOLOGICAL approach has always been at the basis of my work, suggesting to the observer the discovery of a form which hides its interior order, a logic derived from belonging to a mysterious historical period of which all traces have been completely lost and which is beyond us, while, at the same time, giving vague hints as to possible interpretations.

The spectator must be able to perceive the timeless struggle of man with his own fear, his discomfort with his awareness of his failure to defeat ancient and irresolvable spectres that through the centuries have found many forms in which to manifest themselves.

The problem of “terror” (here historicized) which grips Western society stems from primordial mechanisms of birth and development of FEAR-ENERGY and from the ease with which they can be instrumentalized.

I have therefore set at the epicentre of my work, and as a consequent cause and genesis of fear, the metaphor of INCOMPREHENSION, which in turn becomes MYSTERY, INTOLERANCE, HATE, but also RESEARCH, CREATIVITY and EROTICISM.

INCOMPREHENSION is therefore the central figure, the heart of the generator, which distributes to the other allegorical machines the energy fuelling fluids. This energy generates both positive and negative sentiments, and it will therefore issue from the generator in two distinct forms with opposite POLARITY.

The work is divided into five nuclei which are interlinked according to opposing criteria. The central figure, or GENERATOR, becomes the fulcrum and energy-dispensing source for the other machines arranged in a cross layout on each of the four walls of the room. These machines, despite their three-dimensional structure, show only one view (cf. THEATRICALITY).

There is, then, a FEAR-ENERGY GENERATOR in the centre, two “negative machines” (GRIP OF ENVY and HOMICIDE) on opposite walls and two “POSITIVE MACHINES” (EROS DISTILLER and IDEA GENERATOR) on the remaining two.

The following sections describe the five installations which comprise the work, while the final section adds clarifications which apply commonly to all five of the elements which constitute the whole, describing the use of music and the lighting set-up.

FEAR-ENERGY GENERATOR

central figure 

The heart of the generator houses INCOMPREHENSION, formed by two specular humanoid creatures which contest a space divided in half by a black mirror. There is a hole in the centre of the mirror through which there is contact between the only arm that the two forms have.

The two forms are actually part of the same form, like two Siamese twins, but, being unable to see the other through the black mirror, each perceives only an uneasy sense of the other presence and have the impression of being sucked towards it (MYSTERY).

This distribution of “weight” gives rise to an irrational struggle in which each of the subjects involved tends to pull the hidden opposite towards its own HALF-SPACE.

This struggle stems from the fact that neither is able to see the other and is therefore unable to judge its weight, proportions, appearance and, especially, its DEGREE OF DANGER. (The two contenders are unaware that they are TWINS or in any case belong to the same MATRIX and that the struggle is therefore destined to remain unresolved, given the equal forces involved.)

The ATTRITION which is released through the joining aperture generates HEAT and therefore ENERGY.

The battle between the two humanoid forms takes places in a space which is enclosed within a transparent bell with a hexagonal base with a pressure gauge on the casing. The bell, symmetrically divided into two ALVEOLI should be reminiscent of a ribcage in which the subjects in traction, like pistons in a motor in movement, are like lungs distributing oxygen – or “rarefied fluid” – to the surrounding apparatus.

The volatile form of the energy best represents the abstract composition of the forces in play and echoes the Duchampian intuition of the almost alien impalpability of desires and sensations which have such power to deeply move the physical world.

The entire work is imbued with the influence and the inheritance of The Grande Verre, and the desire to explore and to render relevant to today many of the themes which it contains, in a time when understanding of our own and others’ interior workings is crucial in the struggle to regain EQUILIBRIUM.

The work as a whole, from the structure to the conceptual implications, can also be seen as a temple of EQUILIBRIUM.

Outside the bell, and connected to it, a shaft with battery components amplifies the energy generated inside the dome and divides it into POSITIVE ENERGY and NEGATIVE ENERGY.

This energy, in GASEOUS form, is ideally distributed through four tubes connecting the base of the dome to the walls of the room, where the four ACTIVE forms of fear (MACHINES) wait to be fed.

The positive polarity of fear is distilled in CURIOSITY and the negative polarity in DESTRUCTION.

The CURIOSITY GAS feeds the EROS DISTILLER and the IDEAS (or CREATIVITY) GENERATOR on two opposite walls of the room, while the DESTRUCTION GAS feeds the GRIP OF ENVY and HOMICIDE, also on opposite walls, thus creating a cross formation which stems from the central figure. It is important to underline how the fear – energy can find an outlet equally well in positive and negative ACTIONS (machines). Fear could therefore potentially be channelled solely into positive actions and outcomes. The crucial point is the free will to allow oneself to be carried along by the dark side or by the illuminating side. Incomprehension and the unknown take the form of a neutral identity which is identified with MYSTERY.

From this point on, a completely arbitrary dualism is created. The generator, according to the outcome, may produce:

1 – a desire for comprehension motivated by CURIOSITY (positive fluid), which generates culture, knowledge, broadening of the mind, research, erotism and the desire to seduce and to be seduced;

2 – a desire to repress the OTHER, i.e. the DESTRUCTION (negative fluid) which represents the quickest solution to DESTABILISING unease. Those who are stable most easily fall prey to this second reaction. (Instability is therefore at the basis of the desire for learning and growth).

From the central generator, as explained above, the two forms of fear are distributed to the four cardinal points, feeding two negative and two positive machines. The following paragraphs describe these machines individually, starting from the negative ones.

THE GRIP OF ENVY

machine 1

Morphologically inspired by the shape of the body of certain insects, the GRIP OF ENVY is an “active” creation, so defined because it gives an impression of autonomous movement, even though there is not in fact any kinetic activity.

The structure is a taught arc, while the body, reminiscent of the body of an ant, has a number of forms joined by thin segments which make the form less stable and give the impression that it is about to fall apart.

These segments are actually strangleholds which suggest to the viewer that the form was once an integral, homogeneous whole, like a contorted oval balloon about to explode.

The head of this biomorphic structure is bound and confined by a series of “cages” which exert an excruciating pressure, accentuated by a large vice and a gag in rope which is tied to the foot of the figure.

At the foot of the structure there is a wheel with a crank which appears as the fulcrum from which all the traction forces deforming the organism originate. (With each turn of the handle, theoretically, the traction of the rope increases the pressure on the head and the tension in the entire arc.) The fear-energy from the central generator is in fact fed to the foot of this base.

The energy feeding the figure is NEGATIVE and transforms the gas of DESTRUCTION into gas of SELF-DESTRUCTION. The action of the fear/destruction is in this case IMPLOSIVE, contrary to “Homicide” which exports the tension and is therefore EXPLOSIVE.

The decision to opt for an upright assembly stems from the requirement to convey the precariousness and imminent fall.

The wheel on which the work stands further adds to the theme of loss of balance and, like clowns that perform balancing on a monocycle, the figure conveys pathos.

This form of instability evokes a zigzagging motion which is made more powerfully dramatic by the BLINDNESS of the head.

Envy is a self-induced pain and is therefore a MASOCHISTIC form of destruction.

Blindness and disorientation are precisely the consequences of an altered mental state which is no longer able to grasp and filter reality. Desires and satisfactions denied are at the origin of this suffering. ENVY can be classified with this type of self-destructive tension.

This mechanism, as explained above, represents the implosive aspect of destructive fear, but this destructive fear can also trigger an opposite reaction which finds expression in ABUSE (HOMICIDE).

HOMICIDE

machine 2

The second machine, HOMICIDE, represents the most serious consequence of the production of negative fear.

This section is the outlet for a destructive force which is often incubated in its sister mechanism, ENVY.

In this work, the FEAR OF POWER held by the other is at the basis of the degeneration.

Here, POWER is the sum of a determinate quantity of concrete or abstract “things” which create an instinctive hierarchy among living beings.

Homicide is the most direct route to climbing the rungs of this hierarchy and getting as close as possible to some form of stability.

Even within the blurred and indecipherable mechanisms of the most “insane” homicides, the mind tends to apply its own scale of values and desires to justify criminal actions that even in the eyes of a “sane” murderer may seem aberrant.

The concept of POWER as a motive for homicide should therefore be understood in the widest and most general sense possible and is used here to represent a subtle, but widespread tendency towards imposition and abuse of power which lingers in the primordial heritage of all living beings. The staging of this complex series of pulses and consequent active degenerations, attempts to describe a common mechanism which regards and unites us all.

 

The starting point is, as with the GRIP OF ENVY, the primary concept that the OTHER has something which I do not (OBJECTS OF DESIRE) and which I want, and that it is simpler for me to obtain this thing using force rather than by conquering or obtaining it by my own means. HOMICIDE IS THEREFORE THEFT.

 

The victim and the executioner are here represented by two single-cell sacs, as primordial as the homicidal instinct itself, set into a section of “anonymous” material which can be identified with any organism or molecular structure in the universe. As though this seed were in incubation in every single physical component of the cosmos.

The subterfuge of the “section” underlines the HIDDEN nature of this drive and was designed to convey a sense of how deep-rooted and difficultly eradicable it is.

The executioner (in the upper part of the figure) wields a tool which is not clearly identifiable but which vaguely resembles a mill-press and recalls certain techniques for torture and murder.

The function of this instrument is in fact to “squeeze” the victim (in the lower part of the figure), so as to extract the OBJECTS OF DESIRE which it contains. These objects bear an ironically allegorical resemblance to precious stones. The same stones are also present in the upper part of the work, set into the material and potentially reachable by the murderer without needing to resort to homicide.

This state of things could invite the consideration that the murderer not only does not see, or pretends not to see, this “honest” option, but actually prefers the homicidal option because it involves obtaining the objects of desire more rapidly and contemporarily taking the POWER from the adversary.

The concept of BLINDNESS found in envy can be found again here, aggravated by some extent of awareness.

At the scene of the crime there are a number of channels which capture and direct the “gems” obtained from the squeezing process which are subsequently pushed upwards where they are to be injected, using a syringe, into the empty organism of the slaughterer. The instrument of torture completely divides the range of action of the two subjects, closing of any possibility of dialogue or negotiation. This is the degeneration of the semi-isolation between the subjects, which is a key feature of the central structure of the fear generator.

The positive potential of INCOMPREHENSION creates a counteracting fear-energy which suggests an alternative, the antidote to this destructive sentiment: CURIOSITY.

In the two successive sections I will describe how the two positive machines work, driven by this force.

EROS DISTILLER

machine 3

The EROS DISTILLER was conceived to capture and transmit in synthesis SEDUCTION or the “circular” tensions which it triggers.

Positive fear-energy, i.e. curiosity, activates a machine composed of two elements: a male weight on the left and a female weight on the right.

The first is slightly broader, and the form is based on that of the hummingbird or the bee during the act of pollination, but has a wooden structure on the dorsal section with pulleys pulling downwards which considerably burden the whole form. The wooden structure is actually the tensor shaft for the erect organ, which is here simulated in a mechanical parody of the human penis.

The “bandaged” surface of the body recalls a cocoon and symbolised a prelude to growth, or a new birth.

This element was required to counteract an imbalance in the physical and graphical tensions which tended, because of the nature if the sexual act, to weigh overbearingly onto the slender female figure. The result suggests the prospect of a “counter-fertilisation” of the male cocoon which is, in turn, penetrated by the arm of the female figure.

This set-up determines a CIRCULARITY of fluids.

In the upper part, around the heart and the soul, the male is searched, probed, analysed by the female arm and therefore VIOLATED, while the female form is awaiting a more physical violation.

The female figure, “dressed” in black to visually counterbalance the much bulkier male form, in fact has control over the play of tensions in the whole work.

The lascivious posture of the belly and the “displacement” backwards of the upper part make the figure more sinuous and dynamic and express “prudence” and control. This movement protects the HEAD which, as a result, has space to distance itself slightly and therefore maintain greater lucidity. Actually, the form does not have a physical head as such, rather a series of filament-like offshoots which stem from the neck towards the male head, sketching the presence of a head and giving it a more abstract, reflective and complex dimension.

It is a form frozen in the act of probing and analysing (using the filaments and the arm-probe) as many elements, as much information and as many guarantees as possible from the OTHER before being violated.

There is a bar protruding some distance from the foot of the female figure which determines the real traction point of the whole work. There are taught wires strung from the tip of the bar which distance the torso from the smothering approach of the male and tense the work in an ideal arc which bends to tormented anguish the wooden axis of the erect male organ.

These are the “inhibitors” which control and slow female seduction and which, with their subtle reluctance, render the relation more exiting and intriguing.

The female is conceived along the sinuous lines of the seahorse and of certain alembics which hint at an alchemical distillation function. It is also related to Duchamps’ BRIDE with its volatile mental and spiritual essence. The work as a whole, particularly due to the bar which extends out from the foot of the female form, bears some resemblance to a clock, or a rotating mechanism, and therefore appears, like the GRIP OF ENVY, as an “active” machine while remaining static.

The gas of CURIOSITY which feeds it flows into both figures, stimulating a desire for study, knowledge and understanding of the other, including in a purely physical sense. Curiosity leads to study and understanding of the other and therefore to satisfaction, which is able to overturn the trigger of fear, the INCOMPREHENSION which is at the basis of the whole work.

This work is therefore a positive machine.

IDEA GENERATOR

or CREATIVE PROCESSOR

machine 4

The remaining machine is the IDEA GENERATOR or CREATIVE PROCESSOR and it leads to the highest development and the redemption of the original fear arising from incomprehension.

Curiosity, generated by MYSTERY, feeds this structure which is dedicated to the most noble and peculiar activity of the human intellect: CREATIVITY.

This structure should appear like a Queen mother, a sovereign “mummified” on her throne, through which to communicate with the most high through creation and IDEAS.

The impact should be like standing before a mechanical oracle, of spiritual-symbolic, almost religious value.

The work takes the form of a queen bee without a head, all bosom and pregnant belly from which she breathes through a network of stethoscopes the input and energy of the “multitude” of the surrounding life.

Her belly will reprocess everything to form an unprecedented creation which is borne upwards as the essence of the idea itself.

The exit from the body is in the form of music is through the bellflower-shaped head in bent metal, liberated into the air as a universal language. (The resulting melody will be the main THEME of the background sound, as described in more detail in the following section.)

The “head” of the sovereign has an ambiguous form which suggests at least three allegorical analogies; the metal cone is reminiscent of a megaphone, as an instrument for divulging human knowledge and creation; a gramophone, from which the IDEA is emitted in its most communicative and universal form (MUSIC);the headdress of a high-ranking religious figure, which suggests that this process belongs to the spiritual domain of human activity and stresses how CREATION is the PREROGATIVE OF THE DIVINE or a means of communication with the divine.

The figure is unable to support itself because it is pregnant and reclining (and restrained) in a raised throne resembling a wheelchair which testifies to a temporary maternal infirmity.

The seated position gives a strong sense of immobility and therefore of meditation. Creativity is therefore pure meditation and mental processing: a process of evaporation of the concrete substance captured by the sensors on the belly which leads to the FERMENTATION of ideas.

The two hand wheels on the sides of the throne recall the workings of a grinding mill and suggest thoughts of the mincing of perceived ideas from reality and their reassembly in the form of new things, concepts and works. The pregnant belly is thus a fabric container, like a weather balloon which is inflated from below by a heater plate, fed in turn by the gas of CURIOSITY which originates from the generator.

The hotter this container becomes, the more it dilates to make room for input from the outside (sensors), activating at the same time a process of evaporation which carries the idea upwards.

The work is another great chemical still which melts down knowledge, boils it and chemically transforms it into something new.

The “generator of ideas” is the second positive machine and the last of the five.

MUSIC AND ATMOSPHERE

The sound accompaniment which originates from the machines themselves has an important role in characterising the five nerve centres which make up the work. It should be like the song of a siren to the mind of the spectator.

The idea is to have a single faint sign of life which emanates from the structure like an ancient reminiscence, an insinuation. An impression of life under the inanimate crust of the matter – the impression that under a layer of lava now cold and hard there flows live hot magma and that the reasons which motivated the creation of these devices are still topical, still urgent and still to be rediscovered. A spiritual inheritance that this para-scientific laboratory leaves to modern man, or to the man in this space-time dimension that continues to live with the degeneration of his own fear without being able to understand, and therefore conquer, it.

Each individual work gives out a distinct “musical phrase” which plays off the others creating a HARMONY.

The central generator produces the RHYTHM and the other four supply the parts.

Writing this harmony required extreme synthesis: each phrase is expressive of the overall “feel” of the machine which produces it and is infinitely looped. (the five parts of the harmony run on separate tracks but are coordinated by a single sequencer which controls the simultaneous start and loops the whole “ensemble”.)

The main theme, the melody, is emitted by the IDEA GENERATOR, the only machine which is able to filter its own processes by acting on MEDITATION and not INSTINCT (the other machines are activated by irrational instincts like arousal, envy and abuse of power and therefore produce secondary “phrases”).

The final unifying element is semi-darkness in which the individual component machines are spotlighted. This creates theatrical, Caravaggio-esque lighting which matches best the 17^th century atmosphere, between melodrama and setting, the sacred and the profane, science and alchemy.

It is precisely with this reference to Caravaggio and to the spotlight on man and the drama of his existence, transferred onto dead mechanical constructions, that I will attempt to give value and spiritual dignity to the strictly technical-mechanical structure of the apparatuses:

Light, which has historically been at the service of the representation of man, applied to the scientific abstraction of an inanimate symbolic apparatus.

Alessandro Zannier 2003/2005