<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article deals with the Matrix theory of subjectivity, gaze, and desire by feminist scholar Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger. Matrixial framework is explored in comparison to Lacanian psychoanalysis. The essay denotes the differences between split Lacanian model of the subject and Matrixial subjectivity based on plurality and continuity. I argue that Lacanian model which grounds the subject in fundamental lack and loss of corporal reality is insufficient for explaining specifically feminine experience in terms of temporality and collective memory, whereas the Matrix theory provides a conceptual apparatus for positive female identification and alliances between the past and the present. Ettinger’s Matrixial model is applied in the analysis of the 2012 video <italic>The Meeting</italic> by contemporary Lithuanian artist Kristina Inčiūraitė. I claim that the mode of desire in <italic>The Meeting</italic> is based on Matrixial gaze, which allows to formulate memory as co-created by two partners who share archaic knowledge of the Real, grounded in common relation to female sexual difference and intrauterine condition. Therefore, the article interprets the imagery of the town of Svetlogorsk in the video as coemerged mental images that affect each of the partners. I conclude that the Matrix theory overcomes the phallocentrism of classical psychoanalysis, allowing to reformulate the subject in terms of connectivity, compassion, and abilities to process Other’s trauma through positive cultural change.</p></abstract>

This article deals with the Matrix theory of subjectivity, gaze, and desire by feminist scholar Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger. Matrixial framework is explored in comparison to Lacanian psychoanalysis. The essay denotes the differences between split Lacanian model of the subject and Matrixial subjectivity based on plurality and continuity. I argue that Lacanian model which grounds the subject in fundamental lack and loss of corporal reality is insufficient for explaining specifically feminine experience in terms of temporality and collective memory, whereas the Matrix theory provides a conceptual apparatus for positive female identification and alliances between the past and the present. Ettinger’s Matrixial model is applied in the analysis of the 2012 video The Meeting by contemporary Lithuanian artist Kristina Inčiūraitė. I claim that the mode of desire in The Meeting is based on Matrixial gaze, which allows to formulate memory as co-created by two partners who share archaic knowledge of the Real, grounded in common relation to female sexual difference and intrauterine condition. Therefore, the article interprets the imagery of the town of Svetlogorsk in the video as coemerged mental images that affect each of the partners. I conclude that the Matrix theory overcomes the phallocentrism of classical psychoanalysis, allowing to reformulate the subject in terms of connectivity, compassion, and abilities to process Other’s trauma through positive cultural change.

An Inquiry into the Theory of the Matrix: Subjectivity, Gaze, and Desire in Kristina Inčiūraitė’s Video <italic>the Meeting</italic> (2012)

Art History & Criticism

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

An Inquiry into the Theory of the Matrix: Subjectivity, Gaze, and Desire in Kristina Inčiūraitė’s Video  (2012)

This article deals with the Matrix theory of subjectivity, gaze, and desire by feminist scholar Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger. Matrixial framework is explored in...

An Inquiry into the Theory of the Matrix: Subjectivity, Gaze, and Desire in Kristina Inčiūraitė’s Video the Meeting (2012)

Pubblicato online: 05 dic 2019

Pagine: 83 - 95

Ricevuto: 01 feb 2019

Accettato: 03 giu 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mik-2019-0006

Parole chiave
psychoanalysis, video art, Bracha Ettinger, Jacques Lacan, Kristina Inčiūraitė, Matrix, Matrixial theory, memory

© 2019 Diana Romanskaitė, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

An Inquiry into the Theory of the Matrix: Subjectivity, Gaze, and Desire in Kristina Inčiūraitė’s Video the Meeting (2012)

Pubblicato online: 05 dic 2019

Pagine: 83 - 95

Ricevuto: 01 feb 2019

Accettato: 03 giu 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mik-2019-0006

Parole chiavepsychoanalysis, video art, Bracha Ettinger, Jacques Lacan, Kristina Inčiūraitė, Matrix, Matrixial theory, memory

© 2019 Diana Romanskaitė, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Parole chiave
psychoanalysis, video art, Bracha Ettinger, Jacques Lacan, Kristina Inčiūraitė, Matrix, Matrixial theory, memory