ABSTRACT
I read somewhere recently that the curious are always in some danger. If you are curious you might never come home again, like all the fishermen who went off in glass-bottomed boats and now live with mermaids at the bottom of the sea. As the political climate in Canada gets rougher, artists and activists on the left are seeing their own limitations and trying to revive an historical tradition of working together that dates back to the depression days of the 1930s. This is exciting and necessary, but there is a danger in overlooking the tensions such collaboration generates. Psychology has revealed to us an individual’s need for a strong sense of self in order to achieve intimacy or healthy relationships with others. What constitutes a sense of self for an artist and/or activist? This is a time in history when how we see ourselves is influenced by many disciplines that are themselves evolving, perhaps mutating, at an astounding rate. Borders between the humanities and science, art and psychology, and between different art forms, are increasingly cloudy. We are discovering the limits of dualistic thinking, but with these discoveries our understanding of identity is shaken. Resulting curiosities about who we are, in what discipline we situate ourselves, and to which communities we are responsible, effect our ability to move beyond our most comfortable territories and incorporate new ideas.
