We have very often been able to establish that by an unknown biological process there comes from the body of the medium a material, at first semi-fluid, which possesses some of the properties of a living substance, notably that of the power of change, of movement, and of the assumption of definite forms. One might doubt the truth of these facts if they had not been verified hundreds of times in the course of laborious tests under varied and strict conditions. (...) Do not allow yourself to be discouraged in your efforts to open a new domain for science either by foolish attacks, by cowardly calumnies, by the misrepresentation of facts, by the violence of the malevolent, or by any sort of intimidation. Advance always along the path that you have opened, thinking of the words of Faraday ‘Nothing is too amazing to be true’.
Albert Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing in History of Spiritualism
The medium of the artist (2002) is a series of digitally manipulated photographs, printed as large black & white inkjet prints. It can be considered as a tribute to the works and photographs of Albert Freiherr von Schrenck-Notzing. At the beginning of the 20th century, the German physician Schrenck-Notzing scientifically investigated materialization phenomena in a large group of test persons. One of the most prominent and frequently photographed of this group was the French medium Marthé Béraud, better known as Eva Carrière. In the series we made a female artist poses in much the same fashion as Eva Carrière, and is seen after having' materialized' works of art, some of them famous, some of them less well-known.
With The medium of the artist we also wanted to point to the rather unacknowledged influence spiritism and its offspring movements have had on 20th century art. Sigmar Polke is the first name that springs to mind because of his series "Höhere Wesen..." But other artist like Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Jacques-Henri Lartique, Kandinsky and Francis Bacon should also be counted among those whose work sources can be traced back to the spiritist movement. We can understand the attraction the spiritist movement and its products had on artists. Both art and spiritism display a rather 'persuasive' attitude towards truth: they invite the spectator to 'believe his own eyes', yet at the same time brilliantly succeed in achieving the exact opposite, viz. firmly planting nagging doubts and questions that won't always be brushed aside easily.
And finally, wouldn't it be great if it were possible for visual artists to produce their work simply by sitting down in a chair and 'ooze out' the art work that is in front of ones mental eye? Such a soothing thought when one is tired after a long day of hard work!
On the right: An art work as 'materialized' by the artist (right) compared with the original work by Baselitz (left). Note how Baselitz' image was turned upside down during the 'materialization' process.
