The Artist’s PLAY and the Artistic Experience: Integrating Emotional Operating Systems and Contending with FEAR of Death
Abstract
This paper examines how artistic creativity, as one mode of PLAY, enables both artists and respondents/audiences to express and integrate diverse emotional operating systems. Through the theoretical framework of affective neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, complemented by psychoanalytic perspectives, the manuscript analyzes the complex interplay between emotional systems in artistic creativity. Particular attention is given to the interaction between PLAY and SEEKING systems, exploring how this interaction motivates artistic innovation and enhances aesthetic appreciation by the audience. The question—why do we enjoy art?—is explored through psychoanalytic as well as neuropsychological narratives, using, among others, Shakespeare’s drama Macbeth. The paper then focuses on one specific function of artistic creativity: the role of PLAY in contending with FEAR, particularly the fundamental fear of death and extinction. This relationship is examined through analysis of A. Bronz’s stage performance “Die”, moving between author/director, actors and audience.