Creative work as a means of thinking: the case of "elefantus furiosus"

Šiame tekste trumpai pristatysiu vieną iš savo meninio mąstymo principų – bricolage’o principą. Tai darysiu remdamasi antropologo Claude’o Levi-Strausso veikale Laukinis mąstymas aprašytu „pirminiu“ mąstymo būdu. Jį iliustruosiu pavyzdžiu iš savo asmeninės patirties, parodydama, kaip atsitiktinis įvykis ir jo metu sukurti vaizdai bei po keturių mėnesių spontaniškai atsiversta atsitiktinai į rankas patekusi knyga (Samuelio Becketto Neįvardijamasis) įtakoja kito vaizdinio susikūrimą ir atsiradimą mano darbinėje aplinkoje. Tad šiame tekste dekonstruosiu savo mąstymo eigą, tekstą kurdama koliažo būdu, nes šį būdą naudoju ir kurdama vaizdus, t. y. sukuriu kažką naujo iš tarpusavyje nesusijusių detalių.The author of the article presents a method of artistic research that she uses to reflect on everyday experience and different turns of circumstances, constantly symbolically reconstructing them along with her own thinking. While referring to the statements by Jean Francois Lyotard, Nelson Goodman, Wofgang Iser and other thinkers, the fluidity and constant dynamism of postmodern reality and artistic research reflecting on that reality is emphasised. With the help of fantasy the author connects the perception of what is “here and now” with what is not yet there, and in her artistic research flexibly depicts the occurrences of daily life as if they were a kind of intellectual adventure whose participants cannot predict its outcome. In the article special attention is devoted to one of the principles of artistic thinking – bricolage, which is developed on the basis of the “primeval” mode of thinking described by anthropologist Claude’o Levi-Strauss in his work Savage Mind. It is mythical (artistic) thinking based on sensations, imagination and intuition, a kind of intellectual craftsmanship. Bricolage often means a movement or detour from the direct route in order to avoid an obstacle. In the article this principle is illustrated by a (hopefully) funny example of collaboration between art and science. It is an amusing chance event, during which art critic Agnė Narušytė, philosopher Vytautas Ališauskas, photographicartist Alvydas Lukys, artist Kęstutis Grigaliūnas and the author of the article, artist Laisvydė Šalčiūtė spontaneously drew their own versions of ELEFANTUS FURIOSUS (a mad elephant). The author describes an unexpected movement of thought or a kind of bricolage when, several months after this event, a book that accidentally fell into the author’s hands and was opened (The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett), influenced the creation of a new image – LEPUS FURIOSUS (a mad rabbit) and its appearance in the author’s work environment. The article stresses the incompleteness of a narrative as a means of artistic expression that leaves some space for an undefined creative exchange between the reader / viewer and an artistic object – a text and proposed images found on the internet