Multimedia project about the process of creation

 - When I think about Liliana Orbach's works it seems to me that her most successful projects are those in which she is interviewing people. I am thinking about works that assume a structure of a conversation, or an interview in which the artist is letting other people to share with us their thoughts.

 

As an experienced video artist Liliana Orbach knows how to approach her subject, how to create comfortable conditions for other people to open up in a conversation about subjects that are almost impossible to talk about. Last, but not least, she knows how to frame her material into an installation that will be able to communicate with the viewers.

 

In her new project, Liliana Orbach is looking for an answer to the question: where, when and how the Eureka moment happens. She claims that in order to get closer to this phenomena we should clarify certain issues: Is the birth of an insight a consequence of an intuitive process? Does it involve thoughtful preconditioning? Is it connected with a chain of associations?

 

It is interesting however, that this well recognized by cognitive science field was never explored enough in visual arts. Liliana Orbach is making perhaps one of the first necessary steps in this direction, by opening this area also for other artists. She is asking this question to many different artists, but the problem with this unique, creative moment, is that it is extremely difficult to identify its emergence in a definite way. What happens is, that we are dealing with a phenomena that escapes our attention. It happens too fast for us to realize its presence.

 

Creation is a painful and, at the same time, very productive and enjoyable process that is different in every single case. We are always wondering what are the sources of inspiration. Where it comes from? Is it hidden somewhere in our inner psyche or is it just a puzzle made from the already existing elements from the outside world? Is it a chemical process that happens in the brain, or is it an intervention from the other more sublime source, as sometimes we would like to believe?

 

Liliana Orbach's work is not just art about art. The Eureka effect is a part of every dynamic process of solving problems, or making an innovation. What makes the difference is the fact that every succesful work of art has to go through this phase and artists are, in a way, forced to experience it more often than other people.

 

I hope that this interesting project will leave every viewer with a curiosity: How it works with me? What is going on in my head when I think? What happens when I think about how I think?

 

Perhaps these are the most difficult questions of all, because to answer them we have to use exactly the same tool as the one we are trying to observe! - 

 

Marek Wasilewski

Poland, 2015