In this second part of our conversation, held via Skype in October 2012, Viktor Misiano talks about “Soul of the World”, an exhibition project conceived with Russian Philosopher Valeri Podoroga. At the moment of this conversation, it is still a virtual project. Would that be realized or not, “Soul of the World” will represent a new step in Misiano’s more than 20 years curatorial career.
In the 90s, he was mostly working in a relational way. He was insisting on that idea that subjectivity of the artist is something open. He was very much in contraposition with the idea of selfishness and of the “closure” any creative subjectivity. With “Soul of the WorId” he decided to stress an opposite point: he thinks that nowadays we are becoming too much open. His criticism of the speed in which we are doing things, taking decisions, reading projects, is, in some way, connected to too much exaggerated emphasis of the “openness” of the subjectivity. “Soul of the World” is, in some way, an homage to the philosophical heritage of Leibniz. This because he was also emphasizing subjectivity as a closing system, as a Monad. For Leibniz, monads used to be closed in themselves but, at the same time, they were able to be in interaction with each other.
Insisting on artistic subjectivity, Misiano doesn’t want to be taken as a someone very romantic who is aiming at the solitude of the individual. His emphasis on solid subjectivity represents, in fact, a new appeal to the social and political responsibility.