Dödsdriften och den konstnärliga sessionen : En undersökning av Freud och Spielreins teorier om dödsdriften och dess manifestation i Sophie Calles konceptverk

Sammanfattning

The purpose of this paper is to examine how Sigmund Freud’s concept of the death drive, previously theorized by psychoanalyst Sabina Spielrein, is manifested in a selection of the works by the conceptual artist Sophie Calle, as well as in her general artistic practice. Furthermore, the essay explores the possibility of a theory of art that centres around the death drive. Sabina Spielrein’s essay Destruction as the Cause of Coming Into Being (1912) and Sigmund Freud’s book Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920) serve as both the theoretical framework of the study as well as textual material for analysis.The examined artworks are Suite Vénitienne (1980), The Strip-Tease (1988), The RazorBlade (1988), Exquisite Pain (1984) and No Sex Last Night (1996) by Sophie Calle. The study revealed that aspects of the death drive, such as tendencies towards self-destruction and masochism, subversion of mastery, self-sabotage and a compulsion to repeat unpleasurable experiences can be found to take a large role in the conceptual works of Sophie Calle as well as defining her artistic approach. As for the possibility of a theory of art that utilizes the concept of the death drive, the study found that, while there is potential for this further research and theoretical experiments are needed.