Participation Mystique by Dionisaf
Participation mystique refers to the innate human connection to symbolic and imaginative experiences. This symbolic realm exists before or alongside our ability to think analytically or rationally. The idea is strongly linked to projection, as these symbolic or mythic elements naturally extend themselves into the world around us—into people, places, and things, just like how we unconsciously assign color to what we see.
Participation mystique is not just a psychological concept, but an aesthetic principle – a lens through which we perceive art as more than just something we observe; it becomes something inhabited.
In artistic terms, participation mystique can be thought of as a dissolving boundary between the self and the image. In this perspective, any manifestation of art can be perceived not just as an external object, but as an extension of the viewer’s unconscious. Colors, shapes, and atmosphere resonate with inner archetypes – mythical, primordial, emotional – before the mind can name them. This is why abstract compositions can seem hauntingly familiar, or why certain symbols – like a spiral, a doorway, or a shady forest – draw out something ancient, deep, and unconscious from us.
Tracklist
Videos
Credits
Produced and mixed by Dionis Afonichev (Dionisaf)
Mastered by Dionis Afonichev
Cover picture and design by Dionis Afonichev
License
All rights reserved.Tags
Dionisaf is an American multi-instrumentalist, ambient sound and visual artist, composer and producer. Founder and general manager of Chitra Records and its divisions. In his music, Dionisaf combines modular and granular synthesizers, electric and acoustic guitars and other instruments, field recordings, non-musical sounds and noises.