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tracings out of thin air
tracings out of thin air is a long-term research program addressing the complex conditions of norm, ability and dependency in art
the project builds on the history of the Art Studio of the charity 'Perspektivy', situated in the psycho-neurological centre №3 in Peterhof, Russia, and derives from encounters on, to and from the artistic and institutional practices framed within it
the 'Perspektivy' Art Studio is a mixed artistic community that has existed since 2001
the Studio has an archive with more than 3000 works created between 2001 and 2016. This archive could be understood as a significant value in itself that contains the potential to question normative definitions of aesthetic production and appreciation
the Studio is managed by the artist Natalia Petukhova and the psychologist Leonid Tsoy. 40 people are regularly working there, 22 of whom form the core of the Studio
The artist Mikhail Valdenberg at work in the Art Studio
© Leonid Tsoy
international practitioners in the field of mediation, critical pedagogy and socially-engaged art are collaborating closely with the Art Studio's self-taught artists through a series of activities, which can take the form of discussions, residencies, publications, interventions, and exhibitions to reflect upon the discourse of disability in culture, and emphasize the critical role of art in troubling the issue of ableism
the project traces a constellation of satellite activities of co-research named attempts taking as a starting point the practices and working conditions in the Art Studio and to create spaces and moments for collective reflection, analysis and examination. Through these attempts, participants are encouraged to work across constituencies, to question relationships of power and cross-examine disability as a complex social, political, and cultural construction. Besides, the attempts' various strategies intend to escape the 'lack' definition that is often applied to artists categorized as 'outsiders'
tracings out of thin air is an effort to occupy a non-dualistic position, a position 'beside' as alongside or nearby, in the interaction, and beside as something that is not always neutral, and that is not without conflict, as described by the scholar Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick in her book
Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity. Operating from the margins of the art field, we see this 'beside' positioning as a space for new opportunities, for the development of a semi-visible practice that presents a wide range of potentials and trajectories
Konstantin Salamatin. Medical Practice. Digital Art, 2012.
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