EGOMANIA is a highly intimate pursuit, a path of contemplation into my own narcissistic tendencies, an attempt to reveal the roots of narcissistic personality disorder. Therefore, the narrative of the poem is developed in the first person singular and the series of photographs revolves around my own image.

In my contemplative research, I revealed that narcissistic personality is rooted in our childhood. Our parents love us; they want the best for us. However, maybe unintentionally, they make us feel that their love needs to be deserved. Their opinion matters. If they think we behave well, we feel high; if they think we misbehave, we feel down. As a result, we disconnect from our own valuing process and focus on evaluations advanced by significant others. This frame of mind leaves us with the existential void, which can be filled only with responses from the outer world. Hence, people with narcissistic personality do everything to be praised, because only then they would feel worthwhile. These tendencies become exaggerated by narcissistic attitudes prevailing in individualistic ideology, which emphasizes exceptional individual abilities and high individual achievements and performance. Narcissistic personality multiplied by narcissistic social values encourages us to disconnect from our inner self, which in turn results in development of narcissistic personality disorder.

This project continues my experimental work in verbal-visual gestalts. Key methodology reflects theoretical considerations advanced by my studies in psychology of creativity. It is assumed that one of the major purposes of creative work is to elicit aesthetical reaction in the recipient. The aesthetical reaction could be achieved via satiation with multiple meanings presented through multiple sensory modalities. Thereby, a greater synergy is achieved, which in turn increases aesthetical reaction to a work of art.

In this project, I combine poetry and photography. The verbal plane is established by a poem running across all photograms in a series. The visual plane is established by centripetal series of the protagonist’s portraits. To achieve a greater synergy between verbal and visual planes, I introduced two elements of randomness to the relationship between a text and an image. First, regardless of the content of the verse and the facial expression of the portrait, both verbal and visual planes cover the entire space of the photogram. Convergence of text and image contours therefore appears to be arbitrary. Second, I employed cyanotype technique. This almost two hundred year old analog photographic printing process produces a cyan-blue print. The print develops in the open sunlight. The length of exposure, the intensity of light, and the angle of refraction affect the hues and the contrasts of different parts of the print. These factors cannot be fully controlled thereby imparting the element of unpredictability to the process.

This project was presented at SIKKA Art Fair.
30x30 cm cyanotype photograms

Egomania (photopoem)

After 20 years of scientific research in creativity, I have realized that instrumental capacities of contemporary psychology cannot provide an in-depth comprehension of the nature of creative faculty and creative process. Artistic contemplation, on the other hand, due to its metaphorical manner of expression gives us an insight into these issues. Science appeals to our conscious reasoning. Art taps into the unconscious. Due to distinct methodological approaches, art and science are being dichotomized in the contemporary world. I intend to open a dialog between art and science to bridge this gap and merge formal language of science and metaphorical language of art into a coherent method of creative expression. In this series, I juxtapose excerpts from my scientific journal article entitled “Creativity.4in1” and arbitrarily straw blown inkblots and found objects. Both deal with the construct of creativity. The former presents a four-dimensional model of creativity that relies on my logical conscious reasoning. The latter presents an unconscious process that relies on my aesthetic perception. In a way, I plunge into the constrained, rational, scientific, and at the same time, I destroy the constructions of my conscious mind with an act of spontaneity and chaos. I use cyanotype technique to merge these two approaches into a coherent work emphasizing transcendent nature of human creativity.

The second part of the series consists of 7 cyanotype photograms, 31x41cm each.
This project was exhibited at ArtPlay Moscow in 2020.

Art on Science 1.2

After 20 years of scientific research in creativity, I have realized that instrumental capacities of contemporary psychology cannot provide an in-depth comprehension of the nature of creative faculty and creative process. Artistic contemplation, on the other hand, due to its metaphorical manner of expression gives us an insight into these issues. Science appeals to our conscious reasoning. Art taps into the unconscious. Due to distinct methodological approaches, art and science are being dichotomized in the contemporary world. I intend to open a dialog between art and science to bridge this gap and merge formal language of science and metaphorical language of art into a coherent method of creative expression. In this series, I juxtapose excerpts from my scientific journal article entitled “Creativity.4in1” and arbitrarily straw blown inkblots and found objects. Both deal with the construct of creativity. The former presents a four-dimensional model of creativity that relies on my logical conscious reasoning. The latter presents an unconscious process that relies on my aesthetic perception. In a way, I plunge into the constrained, rational, scientific, and at the same time, I destroy the constructions of my conscious mind with an act of spontaneity and chaos. I use cyanotype technique to merge these two approaches into a coherent work emphasizing transcendent nature of human creativity.

The first part of the series consists of 7 cyanotype photograms, 31x41cm each.
This project was exhibited at ArtPlay Moscow in 2020.

Art on Science 1.1

A plate is a circle, a symbol of wholeness, completeness, the ouroboros. It also symbolizes the balance between conscious and unconscious, mundane and spiritual. In the 20th century, science was dichotomized with religion. That century marked the loss of spirituality. We regain our spirituality through a dialog between art and science. We merge formal language of science and metaphorical language of art into a coherent method of creative expression. The premises for this merge are formalized as a manifesto, which text (below) is applied onto the plate. This plaque commemorates the revival of spirituality through the dialog between art and science.

This project was exhibited at The State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia in 2020.

#####MANIFESTO#####
Twentieth century witnessed the flourishing of a new religion called science. New religions traditionally strive to destroy the previous ones. Science was not an exception as, encouraged by Darwinian discovery, it systematically denied everything for which religion took ownership. The spiritual values were traditionally considered as a prerogative of religion. Thus, science left spirituality to religion and took an opposite direction. It focused on methods and techniques of acquisition of data and factual knowledge, thereby confining itself within the framework of observable reality. The focus on measurable and observable phenomena constitutes the principle of objectivity inherent to scientific method, which appears to ignore any aspect of the world, which cannot be quantified and measured. Since an individual’s spiritual experience felt beyond the technological and instrumental capacities of modern science, it became deliberately excluded from the horizon of the scholarship. Religion on the other side devalues spirituality into the religious projection of the cult. Due to lack of methods of systematic knowledge acquisition, religion became dogmatic and therefore cannot provide a systematic account of spiritual experience. As a result, science lost touch with the spiritual component of phenomenal reality, and religion was not able to acquire it. Hence, the twentieth century was marked with the loss of spirituality. Artists as beacons of human civilization should assume their primary objective as bringing humanity back to “speaking terms with the ancient wisdom of the ages.”  It is evident that instrumental capacities of contemporary science cannot provide an in-depth comprehension of human spirituality. Artistic contemplation, on the other hand, due to its metaphorical manner of expression gives us an insight into our spiritual life. Science appeals to our conscious reasoning. Art taps into the unconscious. Due to distinct methodological approaches, art and science have been dichotomized. Twenty first century witnesses an onset of a dialog between art and science, which intends to bridge this gap. We merge formal language of science and metaphorical language of art into a coherent method of creative expression unveiling human spirituality. This plaque commemorates the revival of spirituality through the dialog between art and science.



heARTscience

The purpose of this project is to raise awareness about bipolar disorder. This psychological disorder produces wild mood fluctuations that range from manic state to depressive state. It cannot be cured, but with proper treatment and care from the others, people with bipolar disorder can have a balanced life. 
The project continues my experimental work in Cognitive Poetry. Its theoretical considerations are based on the assumption that one of the major purposes of creative work is to elicit aesthetical reaction in the recipient. The aesthetical reaction could be achieved via satiation with multiple meanings presented through multiple sensory modalities. Thereby, a greater synergy is achieved, which in turn increases aesthetical reaction to a work of art. However, the core element of any work in Cognitive Poetry remains a poetic text. In the present project, it is combined with photography.
The signature mood oscillations are conveyed through poetic text, which alternates the verses expressing fluctuating manic and depressive states, respectively. Each verse is incorporated within a photograph of a female figure enriching the poetic text with visual expressions.
In this project, I have also experimented with a cross-modality technique; that is, applying the elements of one modality to another. The application of this technique to poetry is well known in contemporary literature: Visual Poetry enriches poetic text with visual elements. In this project, I did the reverse and applied the key poetic methods to manipulate visual elements. In poetry, rhymes and meters link separate elements thereby constructing a specific rhythm of the poem that unites those elements in a coherent whole. I have applied this modus operandi to photographs in the present work.
Thus, three pieces depicting depressive state and three pieces depicting manic state follow the structure of sestina (DMMDMD). The resemblance with this poetic form is reinforced by repeating the ending of each previous verse in the beginning of a new verse. Further, each pair of these states is linked by a visual ‘rhyme’ constructed through a photograph’s focal element (hands, clavicle, and rope). These poetic methods applied to visual elements combine independent pieces in a coherent whole. Due to this intrinsic connectedness, the order of presentation becomes irrelevant.

This project was presented at SIKKA Art Fair (Dubai, UAE) in 2017.
120x100cm Diasec® 4+4 prints

Bipolar project (photopoem)

######headphones recommended######
Modern science ascribes ontological primacy of the psyche to the brain. It is believed that comprehensive knowledge of the human brain, it's structure and functions, would reveal everything about an individual’s personality, behaviors, motivations, emotions, and creativity. Enclosed in this phenomenological framework, scientists frantically design newer and newest devices measuring the brain and use these devices to accumulate more and more evidence about the brain. Despite this longitudinal massive scientific enterprise, no answers about the nature of human psyche has been provided. Moreover, science seems to reach its ontological cul-de-sac. However, the problem is obvious. The origins of human existence lay beyond the instrumental capacities of scientific methods. The origins of the psyche can be found in human spirituality, which falls beyond the boundaries of our conscious experience.
This video collage entertains the idea of vanity of scientific inquiry. The voice in the background lectures about the structure and functioning of the brain. The lecture is accompanied by images of the living brain and brain parts diagrams, which together represent the ‘scientific’ approach to human psyche. These images are juxtaposed with video clips of Leize Jenius artists’ performances representing potential (and rather unpredictable) content of the psyche.
That is, no matter how much we study the brain, we’d never understand what comes out of it. Hence, a scream of vanity: What the brain!

What the brain! (video collage)

This project invites you to contemplate on an error inherent to art. The core element is a statement (presented below) proclaiming fallacy of artistic expression. The sense of fallacy is achieved by juxtaposing visual and auditory presentations of the text in three languages. The Russian and German texts have been produced from original English text by two independent translators ensuring subjective interpretation of the original concept. As a result, these texts appear as a mere approximation of each other. All three versions of the statement are presented simultaneously to complicate its understanding and satiate it with multiple meanings. These per Vygotsky, lead to eliciting an aesthetical reaction and contemplation. The complication is further increased by mixing the Russian and German auditory channels. The fallacy is emphasized by using the homophones lazy and Leise in the title, which in turn refers to etymology of Leise Jenius.

#####statement#####
Artists know this situation when they have a vision, which they believe needs to be conveyed to the outside world, in one form or another. And they also know the frustration that befalls them when they realize that the outcome only remotely resembles what they have envisioned.
<br>
There is ultimate knowledge beyond our conscious comprehension. An attempt to transfer this transcendental knowledge into an intelligible form creates an error. This error occurs when we try to use conscious means of expression to express something beyond consciousness. The error occurs when an artist tries to formulate the ultimate knowledge using the limited means available to him; when he tries to give a frame to something that cannot have a frame. This explains why the work of art appears to be poorer than the idea that inspired it. Art is a result of apprehension of this error when an artist realizes that achieving true knowledge is impossible. This sensation of the error penetrates through all the works of art. Art begins with an act comprising the error.
<br>
We experience negative emotions finding ourselves in a state of endless fallacy caused by the inability to achieve genuine outcome. Error evidences that there is something outside of our consciousness. When error takes place (i.e., when one gains sense of freedom, abandonment, rejection), art comes to existence, wandering and searching. Art is an act of filling a blank slate, extracting it from dark, uninhabited, threatening space. Blank is mysterious. Man exists only when he habituates (fills, changes) space. Because the truth falls beyond the grasp of the mind, human activity inevitably contains an error. Hence, making errors is the beginning of human existence.
<br>
Human existence is justified by its desire to know the truth. This is expressed in art bearing an error. Art according to Pliny came from outlining shadows. The shadows according to Plato are mere a reflection of the phenomenal reality. Hence, art is a game with a shadow, the game with an error. And that's what makes us human.

This work was presented at the exhibition PAINTING by LEIZE JENIUS.

Lazy Contemplation / Leise Kontemplation

Concept & Installation: Anatoliy Kharkhurin
Poetry: Tovy Harhur
Video: Karina Saidi
+++
This video documents an installation presented at The Big Picture Dubai in proArt Gallery (Dubai, UAE).

The visitors of the exhibition play a central role in this project thereby making it an art happening. The major theme evolves around people’s egocentric behavior, which undermines their existentially sustainable development. In the project, I state that people were granted sustainable virtues, which were intended to establish a path to existential completeness. People do not see these virtues, because they are occupied with their own reflection, their ego. This egocentric behavior masks these virtues thereby giving rise to existential void. What they see instead is the reflection of their own worries. Only in the moments characterized by psychologists as a state of flow, people see scattered pieces of these virtues. However, even in these moments they are not able to construct the full picture and therefore remain in confrontation with the givens of existence. The project calls to people’s awareness of the fact that selfishness results in existential void. It implicitly shows a path to spiritual restoration.

In this work, each verse of the poem (enclosed) presents a sustainable virtue given to people. The poem is printed in white on black paper covered by thin glass to create a mirror reflection. The poem covers the floor of the room. The visitors walk in the room. They see their own reflection masking the poem. This act presents inability of people to see the virtues because of their selfishness. By walking on the glass the visitors break it. Broken glass shards cut the paper on which the poem is printed thereby hampering reading of the poem. This act symbolizes people destroying the path to existential completeness.

Thus, the following parallel is constructed: The visitors are unable to read the poem because it is masked by their mirror reflection. Even when the glass breaks and they see that something is written underneath, they cannot comprehend it because the text is broken into pieces. This symbolizes the following: People live their lives and do not know that they were given sustainable virtues intended to impart meaning to their life. Thereby, they deprive themselves of the meaningful existence and make themselves unhappy. The poem in combination with the act of breaking the glass should make the visitors aware of the fact that their selfishness eliminates meaning from their life.

#####text#####
this is the will to elongate countenance
of the pleasure of the ancient of days
the white light has marked the crown
at birth the time passes by
the gaze becomes firmer sharper
and the mind – stuffed with properties	

this is the left ear filled with
anticipation of mature thought
woman’s joy – the moment of conception
motherhood – the joy of acceptance –
comprehension: the mother of children
does rejoice but lacks harmony	

this is a patch of lightning bolt rushing
about the right ear lobe – an earring
scatters temptation of inspiration
but the path of self-nullification is
forgotten and – unwilling to understand –
the wisdom of the world is masked with irony

this is the central trunk – the homonyms
coalesce therein: the supreme intellect has
penetrated the depth of his sensual essence
no one would condemn if knew
this relation like adam knew his wife eve
but lechery has been authorized here	

this is severe might of judgment –
the concentration of supreme forces
as if the right hand that gives
was protected by the left one that strikes
to prevent squandering of the goodness
but instead it’s all atrocity	 

this is the right hand raised to
construct the world with loving-kindness
the love given to abraham
strove to unconditionally bestow
largesse but the goodness has
been diverted by malignant gossip

this is the instant of beauty and harmony
of might and benevolence
the soul acquires its purpose 
in splendor of the body
created for love – for love
but not for agonizing sex	

this is the eternal resistance
to all influences on one’s path
it’s not dissoluteness but sincerity
the confidence in balanced motion –
the steadfast step of the left foot – 
of all who believe in predestination	

this is eternal victory
over all obstacles on one’s path
it’s not aggression but persistence
the supreme self-confidence –
the assertive step of the right foot –
of all who strive to rectify the world

this is the pillar bridging heaven and earth –
the foundation of the universe –
the righteous man who related all elements
to their procreative power
in the form of the reproductive organ that
carries the sign of covenant – the circumcision	
	

instead of assembly of the souls –
hanging out
instead of actualizing speech –
small-talk
he has revealed his presence
he lowered himself like a woman
exposing herself
and being trampled on
there is no kingdom
without people
but the people
in its vain search for permanence
tramples on the revealed
he created his world as the kingdom
but the path to the king is forgotten

Broken Vessels (poetry/art happening)

Concept: Anatoliy Kharkhurin
Poetry: Tovy Harhur
Video: Zlatan Filipović
Act: Rik Aby
+++
This video poem is based on an video installation presented at the solo exhibition poARTree at G.A.D. Gallery (Berlin, Germany).

It continues my experimental work combining visual and verbal elements in a coherent whole aiming to elicit an aesthetical reaction in a beholder. The poem develops the theme from Greek mythology about Orpheus, a legendary musician, poet, and prophet.

Orpheus descends into the underworld of Hades to rescue his deceased wife Eurydice. His singing enchants Hades’s wife Persephone who convinces her husband to grant Orpheus permission to return Eurydice to the realm of the living. There is only one condition: During his journey from the underworld, Orpheus should not look back at Eurydice. Orpheus looks back... 

Orpheus is an archetype of a poet. Eurydice in the realm of the dead is only a shadow. She exists only in his imagination. Dialogue between Orpheus and Eurydice is a dialogue between the poet and his muse, a dialogue with himself.

Hence, Orpheus&Orpheus depicts two figures of the same male figure reciting both male and female parts. The dialog takes place in Orpheus’s mind for there is no other person in the scene (Eurydice is in his imagination). This notion is presented by lips moving out of sync with audio track. The incongruence between the visual and auditory planes is meant to elicit per Vygotsky aesthetical reaction to this work.

text
-
– what a burden these sharp stones
– stones like stones
stones like souls
like stiffen fates
of dead people
– motionless
as could be motionless
eternity
reached its apogee
– pelageya?
– persephone
was her name –
she looked as if king hades
was not there
– i was
enchanted too
a wife and a partner
of yours
forever
– forever?
the lights of the underground lakes remain
forever
stones and moans of lost wind
will remain forever
the echo of our steps…
– i'm following you
as your echo
– in this realm of shadows 
“forever” transmutes
into stone
– stone lies on the path
– stones are everywhere
behind
– ah, don't look!
– i don't
stone's in the corner
on the edge
in the head
– stones are everywhere
i do love
– me or my songs?
– you
– but i?
i came to conquer
i've conquered
but i don't know whom
– me
you've loved
you came loving
and now i'm following you
– wait!
Eurydice am i	– i came for you
the one
i couldn't sleep nights without
i called out
i urged
my songs are filled up with you
my i – is you
to that one
i came down the narrow path
– did you invent me?
– you're inside of me
– my voice is ardent breath of yours
my movements are echo of sand
sliding down your sandals
i'm your shadow
obedient and faithful
wife
– what are you in the sun light?
– i don't know
i'm by myself
– yourself?
you're not me?
– i'm not
you'll give me flowers
and we'll stroll until morn
you and me
you and me
then we'll marry
we'll have children
a family
you and me
you and me
and them
the family
you'll get used to me
no worries
and you'll start recognizing me
later
we'll hang your lyre in the frame
it'll adorn our living room
so it will be
Orpheus listen
you've done a great job
be yourself
listen
look back
you'll see a muse
i'll remain inside of you
forever
i'm your breath
not your wife
– i know you!

Orpheus & Orpheus (video poem)

Poetry: Tovy Harhur
Translation: Natalja Zilke
Video: Zlatan Filipović
+++
The Lion of God is the result of a collaboration between a poet and a video artist who – each from the perspective of their respective genres – developed the theme of parenthood. A poetic text unfolds both vertically and horizontally. A vertical reading introduces female, male, and the child’s principles, respectively. A horizontal reading presents a dialog, which expresses the union of female and male principles being realized in the process of conception. Therefore, the poem creates a multidimensional verbal space, in which male and female principles are presented vocally and in which the unvoiced child’s principle is presented visually as a part of the video. The multidimensional character of this work gathers momentum through trilingual representation: German voice of the mother, Russian voice of the father and English unborn voice of the child.

text
-
I dreamed about Lilith
appearing on the shore of the Red sea.
At dawn, my shield –
under the head tired of long trips –
copper shield
became saturated with fire of the rising sun.
The scorched temples will shed
the stannum of dreams.

two aspirations
two desires
two paths endlessly converging
when two spiritual aspirations
concatenate
with their sensual desires
when they reach
the culmination of their impulse
when the piercing intellectual force
penetrates explosive flash of emotions
it creates a very field of
concentrated energy
such a comprehensive will
to incarnate impetuous desire
that the pure light is shed into it
i am the vessel that assembles the light
i am the one
who connects the supreme with the earthy
i am the lion of god	

Look, the moon has risen in my body.
Soft wave of light flows in my limbs.
Cuddle up to me, my beloved one!
I satiate you with moonlit breeze.
I soothe your rage,
your agitation
I tell you about the reasons of what
cannot be expressed in words,
about the paths of light
that impregnates me.
I impregnate you
with this light.

I’ve seen myself in front of you –
the woman of dreams
sheltering herself with sincerity
like primordial nudity.
The woman of dreams
exhaling faith
and joy
of primordial motherhood.
You’re the woman.
You replace
dreams.
You’re the woman
who will give birth
to my child.

i’ve seen them
lying in the embryo pose 
two graces
one was severe – the other was loving
their fatigue was rich with such a trusting beauty
with such a penetrating radiation
i’ve seen them at once
they were so unfamiliar
but so related
as if they’ve been approximating each other
all their life
and finally met
and lied down to rest
and merged
i’ve recognized them at once
and entered
her dreams	

Hush, coddle up to me!
I tell you about the birth,
about a little boy looking at us.
He stands at some distance with a cloak
on his right hand –
white cloak with silver fibers.
Close your eyes, my beloved one!
You’ll see him
approaching us –
he grows, sprouts up into me
like the moonlight grows
into air. 
You’ll see him
sprouting up into me,
filling me up,
giving himself up – to you.

I gathered copper coated with stannum of dreams,
reinforced it with alloy of lead poetry,
and forged a thin hoop from an iron serpent
to make a bracelet for your right hand.

his movements are a flashing sword
blade – mercury
air merged with earth
in the moonlight
he is air
earth she is
lulling gaia
who soothes chaos
and grants life
(the stars are best seen from the depths of earth)
willful gaia
squeezing the time
to give birth to the divine lion
they merged into sensual imminence
whether they are to be doused in soothing water
or scorched by purifying fire
the fire blazed away
the sun rose	

Coddle up to me, my only one!
I need your smell
piercing me,
gray light of your eyes.
Enter me,
give me your power.
Together we’ll
overcome the chimeras,
together we’ll
depersonalize the time,
we’ll become omnipotent.
Together we’ll become the one.

my father 
holds the ancient law
the right hand of my mother
is embraced with four metal bracelet 
i came to this world
with a firm tread of a lion
to reveal the divine presence
i am the lion of god

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Anatoliy Kharkhurin