The Threshold: On the Artist as a Shaman-Like Figure
The first in a series on shamanism and contemporary art. On the resemblance between two figures — the shaman and the artist — and what it means to work at the threshold between worlds.
VSG Magazine — Reflections
A living archive — built in real time, one artist at a time. Every response is a timestamp: what artists think now, how they work now, what they are making now.
The Archive
This section exists because no one is systematically recording how working artists actually think — not critics, not institutions, not algorithms. We are. Each contribution is a document: a single artist's perspective, at a specific moment in time, answering the same three questions every contributor answers.
In ten years, this will be a genuine archive of contemporary artistic thought. The first responses matter most. They are the foundation.
What is good artwork?
What does it mean to be a successful artist today?
What is the project you are working on right now?
Contribute your reflection
Open to any working artist. Answer in your own language. Any length. No image required — though you are welcome to include one. Your response will be published here with your name and the date.
Submit your reflection
The first in a series on shamanism and contemporary art. On the resemblance between two figures — the shaman and the artist — and what it means to work at the threshold between worlds.
On networks, presence, and what grows when artists gather with intention — a reflection from VSG co-founder Gordana Zikic on what we are actually building together.