Art and Spirituality

From 1984 onward,  I developed my own way of making performances, in which my main goal was radiation, influence, a conveyance of my own psychological state, inspiration, emotions, and experience to the audience, as well as  to a broader environment. My performances were rather unusual, a real adventure at a time when, generally speaking, performances here and elsewhere had become choreographed shows, costumed spectacles, using music, light pantomime, or acting. 

            I did not dress specially for my performances; I wore my everyday clothes. I did not rehearse my performances or act them out according to some scenario, because I ”impersonated” my own self. I did not make any physical preparations either because in my performances I mainly talked and simultaneously radiated spiritual energy towards the environment.  Speech was the basic method of breaking the mental barrier between me and my audiences, and also a way to prepare them for what followed, by communicating my own stream of thoughts and finally, if needed, conveying the conclusions. In my performances, which I called (spi)rituals – rituals of spiritual exchange –

(Left image- "Love", 1984) 
(In this performance Andrej Tisma caressed  the world: continents, seas, oceans, rivers, mountains and valleys, transmitting his love to the whole planet by means of a world map. He used the phrase "I love You" from the Elvis Presley's song "Love Me Tender" repeated 200 times, as the background sound.)

As we continue our Art issue into February this year, we feature well-known artists from various places on earth, to examine Art in a new way. In this special feature, SIM speaks directly with Andrej Tisma in Novi Sad. Andrej speaks brilliantly on the subject of art throughout various paradigms, and explains how it has helped shape the thinking patterns and social structures of societies throughout time. This feature is sure to leave you thinking in new ways, realizing the underlying value and meaning of self-expression through the arts.     

Enjoy this special feature in SIM today, and be sure to leave your comments directly with Andrej below.

Art is a result of inspiration, and inspiration has a spiritual nature. So art is in its base spiritual activity. If we would like to define art in short we could say that it is the communication of the human with the sense of existence, the discovering of deep secrets, penetrating to the source of things. The artist is, in this case, a mediator between that source and the receiver.

            The theme of the artwork, technique, style, are just the means for communication with the audience. They have been changing throughout history from epoch to epoch, from artist to artist. The artist's only true problem through history was to choose the form of mediation, but most often that form, together with the content, was imposed by the society in which he used to live. Since primitive society it was religion and its institutions, and from the l7th century secular authorities, their philosophy of life and science. But gradually the artist was increasing the space for implementation of his individuality into creation.