Zac Caspersen

My practice is primarily concerned with themes of nothingness and temporal consciousness. It examines the lack of understanding of such spaces and investigates the search for an intimate relationship with oneself and one’s surroundings. To wander into sublimity is to explore the vast, endless abyss of oneself. Entering this space that evokes emptiness, the void, aids in the creation of an inner experience unlike any other. It’s important to forget past associations of this reality and use this voidal room to meditate into a new form, allowing a durational unconscious to gain precedence. Falling into the darkness, to be truly alone, may awaken bliss, but equally; terror. These intense contrasting emotions will prepare you for what is yet to come. Exiting a newfound sublimity, you are conditioned to view these meandering paths set before you. A pathway, yet so benign, can guide you to realities never once imagined.

Drawing from Husserl’s theory of the ‘living-present,’ and protention (the anticipation of a future event), I am mainly looking at theories of the sublime and how this relates to and differs from experiencing the void, how to access an understanding of this through the unconscious and elements of experiential temporality and memory. Incorporating media and methodologies that echoes themes of absence, spontaneity, and darkness, Protentional Abyss includes printmaking, drawing, painting, and laser cut.