The tactics of ‘Marginals': the Issue of Methodology in Analysing Outsider Art in the Case of the Post-soviet Space

Abstract

Anna Suvorova – Candidate of Art History, Associate Professor at the Cultural Studies and Social and Humanitarian Technologies Department, Perm State University, Perm, Russian Federation. Email: suvorova_anna@mail.ru

This article considers the problem of finding a relevant methodology for outsider art studies, which cannot be described with standard approaches usual in this field, such as the concepts of the unconscious and that of formal and semiotic analysis. Instead, the approach taken is to examine discursivity of outsider art and its significant relationship with external fields such as art, popular culture and politics. Thus, the concepts of discourse, strategies, and tactics are highly relevant, particularly in the theory of Michel de Certeau, who outlined the strategy of examining 'high art', as well as the fields of politics, society, or science. The article describes the most common tactics of outsiders: the tactics of assigning (poaching), the capture of 'the place of the other', and alerting or imitation strategies, as well as manipulation, and
the usage of weakness. Based on interviews, the works of artists in this circle are considered in the light of these tactics in the art of outsiders. Thus, 'poaching tactics' are developed in the assigning of the official meta-narrative. Visually, this can be manifested through a 'capture narrative', borrowing the contents
of literature, TV, 'high art' – all that is born from 'great culture'. This practice is widespread in the context of marginal and outsider art. Another important tactic comes in the form of simulation or sham, a turning in the balance of forces. The research is based on the stories of different generations of the outsider artists who worked from the 1990’s to the early 2010s.