Artistic Experience as Phase Transition: Theoretical Integration of Repetition, Reframing, and Reprocessing in the 'Bishakusha-Haha' (Aesthete Mother) Project
Abstract
This study redefines the artistic experience within the 'Bishakusha-Haha' (Aesthete Mother) project in relation to Heidegger's 'fateful repetition' (Wiederholung), reframing in cognitive science, and reprocessing in clinical psychology (EMDR). Against the backdrop of the sense of entrapment experienced by subjects in contemporary Japanese society, this study theoretically examines how artistic experience can reorganize the temporal structure of the subject, based on the unique concept of 'the arrival of the self from the future' proposed by the Bishakusha-Haha project. The analysis demonstrates that artistic experience functions as a 'phase transition' that mediates both cognitive reframing and the re-acquisition of ontological possibilities (Wiederholung), thereby updating the viewer's historical self-understanding. This study is an attempt to reconstruct artistic experience at both psychological and philosophical levels, newly positioning the therapeutic and transformative potential of art.
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Keywords
Bishakusha-Haha (Aesthete Mother), repetition, reframing, EMDR, phase transition, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, temporality, subjectivity
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I. Introduction
In contemporary Japanese society, a sense of psychological entrapment and stagnation is widely shared among people ranging from the young to the middle-aged. This entrapment cannot be reduced to individual internal problems; it must be understood as a 'rigidification of the subject's temporal structure' caused by a complex interplay of social, cultural, and historical factors. The Bishakusha-Haha project, which is the subject of this study, is positioned as an attempt to reorganize this rigidified temporal structure through artistic experience.
Concepts proposed by Bishakusha-Haha, such as 'the self arriving from the future' and 'the experience of love,' are not mere metaphors; they refer to the phenomenon in which the unrealized potential latent in the subject emerges into the present, triggered by artistic experience. This structure is deeply related to the processes of Heidegger's 'fateful repetition' (schicksalhafte Wiederholung), cognitive science's 'reframing,' and the 'reprocessing' represented by EMDR.
However, these three domains have traditionally been discussed separately without intersecting. The purpose of this study is to integrate them into a single theoretical framework, using the Bishakusha-Haha project as a medium, and to clarify how artistic experience functions as a device that transforms the subject's historicity, embodiment, and temporality.
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II. Methodology
This study is a theoretical research project that combines the following three approaches:
1. Philosophical Analysis
Focusing on Heidegger's theory of time (especially 'repetition,' 'authenticity,' and 'historicity'), we examine the phase structure of artistic experience by comparing it with Merleau-Ponty's theory of embodiment and Foucault's framework of subjectivation and practices.
2. Reference to Cognitive Science and Psychotherapy Research
We take up reframing (cognitive behavioral therapy) and the 'Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model' in EMDR to analyze their structural similarities with reprocessing in art.
3. Phenomenological Reading of the Bishakusha-Haha Project
We collect descriptions of the works and the viewing experience, and map the 'self from the future,' 'experience of love,' and 'phase transition' that appear there onto a theoretical structure while contrasting them with the two aforementioned domains.
This study is an exploratory research project aimed at theoretical integration across philosophy, cognitive science, and artistic practice, rather than the collection of empirical data.
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**III. Results (Analysis and Findings)
3-1. The Structure of Fateful Repetition in Heidegger
• Not imitation of the past, but 're-acquisition of unrealized possibilities'
• Non-linear time: Future → Past → Present
3-2. Homology and Differences with Cognitive Science Reframing
• Reframing = Transformation of meaning
• Repetition = Renewal of existence
• Structural homology between the two
3-3. Comparison with the Reprocessing Structure of EMDR
• Thawing of the fixed meaning of trauma
• Bilateral stimulation and the relocation of attention
• Similarity to the 'safe reprocessing space' in artistic experience
3-4. Phase Transition Model in Bishakusha-Haha
• Self coming from the future = Call of possibility
• Experience of love = Opening of the subject
• Artworks = Devices for repetition/reprocessing
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IV. Discussion
• Artistic experience goes beyond mere emotional arousal and triggers a 'rearrangement of temporal structure'
• A rare space where cognitive transformation (reframing) and ontological transformation (repetition) fuse
• The Bishakusha-Haha project creates a 'space = space of care' for this fusion
• Art as a possibility to break through the sense of entrapment in contemporary Japan
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V. Conclusion
This study presented a new theoretical model connecting Heidegger, cognitive science, psychotherapy, and the Bishakusha-Haha project. It became clear that art is a site of 'phase transition' that transforms the subject's temporality and draws future possibilities into the present.