Points of View
An artwork about mind and interpretation created for Christie’s charity sale.
Diptych, 2022
Featuring a dialogue between two minds, Points of View explores themes of communication and interpretation. In this piece, Zhestkov chooses to work with a recognisable shape of a brain for his exploration of how information is interpreted and passed by people, referring to the brain as both a physical organ and a metaphorical landscape where ideas are generated, processed, and shared.
Following his interest in depicting natural phenomena and finding universal representations in physical forces, Zhestkov portrays the conversation as series of powerful electric currents that highlight the bioelectrical foundation of the mind as well as the emotional power present in deep conversations.
Asynchronous movement of the two halves of the diptych is devised to be a spatial installation. Located in a specific spot, Zhestkov’s creations visualise the idea of a standpoint.
The artist reflects on the idea of subjectivity and inherent limitations of the perception that tend to be overlooked. For him, objectivity can be achieved collectively, and combining various perspectives is crucial to deepen humanity’s understanding of the world.
In this idea exchange, many barriers separate person’s intent from what eventually comes across. The biases from the previous experiences are inextricable from our consciousness, but at the same time, we have innate methods of empathising with other people.
In Points of View, Zhestkov refers to mirror neurons by placing his sculptures in front of one another and creating a constant exchange of signals between them, which repeats itself like in an infinity mirror.
For the artist, understanding can not just be reached once and for all, and it is only reached over and over. The empathy and interpretation is an ongoing process, and remaining open to other perspectives is critical for building the collective knowledge.
The nature of these abstract agents stays unrevealed by the artist. Biological, technological or entirely extrinsic creatures — they are deliberately ambiguous.
With this minimalist approach, Zhestkov focuses on the feedback loop of sending and receiving, an ever-present channel between two counterparts allowing them to make sense of things that they perceive.
We see their inner workings, but we never see what they do — they may be fully aware of the world and the context that we see around them, and they might be seeing their own images created by a simulation, as in a hypothetical ‘brain in a vat’ scenario.
The theme of a simulation is present throughout artist’s portfolio, as both the philosophical concept and his technical tool. Creating his digital sculptures by simulating real-world principles and seeing how convincing the digital worlds become, Zhestkov reflects on the essence of the material world and its mysteries.
In Points of View, physical and digital realities unite into one spatial experience. How can we tell that one of them is more ‘real’ than the other one, when both are perceived as being actual — rather by us or by agents on the other side of the screen?
For Zhestkov inspired by such philosophers as Chalmers, material and simulated coalesce into one multilayered and augmented experience that we, inhabitants of digital spaces, are inescapably present in.
Christie's, New York, 2022
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