Kimlik ve 'Ben' İkiliğinin Sanat Pratikleri ile Çözümlenmesi

Abstract

This research is based on the question "Who am I?", asked by the conscious subject, to confirm their existence as an 'I'. Since the concepts of 'I' and identity are different, initially the foundational meanings of these concepts are examined. This examination has been conducted with qualitative research based on philosophical and psychoanalytic literature. When the philosophical dictionary meaning of the concept 'I' is studied, the concept of consciousness comes forward. Therefore, the first chapter is based on Descartes' proposition "I think, therefore I am". Seeking to confirm the existence of the ‘skeptic consciousness', this proposition has been put forward based on the consciousness that observes themselves and questions their existence. The subject, who wants to 'be' and define themselves, makes this definition sometimes by rejecting what is through negation, and sometimes by accepting what is through the other. The subject, who thinks and seeks the truth through thinking, desires to fix and define 'I', which however contradicts the dynamic structure of the 'I'. The existential struggle of the consciousness drives into the attempt to save their selves from nothingness, which forces them to define existence. However, as Hegel expresses, the subject, which is neither existence nor absence, acquires temporality within the movement of "becoming". Due to the indefinable structure of the 'I' and the fact that it is only a transitory moment for the subject, the first chapter is titled I's Hide and Seek. Since the 'I' comprises dynamicity and the self is established within this dynamicity, movement plays an important role in this research’s artistic practice. Through the art practice, in which the viewer's intervention is also invited, the structure of the 'I' has been tried to be analyzed conceptually and artistically. In the second chapter, the meaning and the function of the concept of identity are explored. With this, it is understood that identity is a determination of reflection. Identity is a structure that remains stable because it has the function of positioning the subjectified 'I' within the social context. In addition to this stability, its being a fantasy causes more meaning to be attributed to it than it already has. However, it is concluded that the subject, whose sense of identity has changed, must confront the fantasy, and overcome it to escape this paradox. As a result of the pioneering research, particularly Lacan's, examined in the third chapter, the subject's confrontations have been carried out theoretically and artistically. What it means if the 'father' who plays an active role in creating the subject's identity narrative, is actually dead and how it affects the identity construct has been analyzed. ‘Father’ plays a crucial role in the subject's entry into the social order by becoming a subject. If the 'father' is actually dead, the being of the 'father' is replaced with the father's function, and the identity is shaped by the 'law', therefore needs reckoning. The subject clings to an imaginary 'father', meaning a father that is impossible to reach, in addition to the laws and impositions that replace the actual father. The imaginary ‘father’ is a type of God prototype, as also articulated by Lacan. When the subject confronts why they created an impossible-to-reach imaginary 'father' through the missing 'father', face the fact that he is unnecessary. Instead of the identity they construct through the name-of-the-father and the imaginary 'father', they begin to construct themselves over emptiness. Through these confrontations and reckonings, the unfixability and alterability of the 'I', as well as the unnecessity of the 'father', have been able to be shaped and conveyed within the practice of art. As a result of this research, the alterable structure of the 'I', the stability of identity and its fantasy were confronted. Accordingly, by building the construct through emptiness, the proposition of the subject’s ability to move from what ‘is’ to ‘becoming’ has been presented. Since the viewer can also experience this phenomenon through the art practice and be part of the artwork, this research has no longer become a subjective reckoning.