Holarkia

Holarchy describes the relationship of an individual entity, a holon, to its components and to a larger whole. A holon is an independent agent and at the same time a part of a larger entity, which in turn is both a holon on its own level and a part of a higher level entity.

Holarkia (Finnish for Holarchy) is an ongoing series of abstract ink drawings and mixed media works that Niko Skorpio began working on in 2019. The works are based on seemingly endless series of lines that collectively may form shapes on paper. The works as such do not aim to represent anything, but depending on the perceiver’s set and setting, they may suggest abstract landscapes, objects or events, or intermediate forms thereof.

The work process is in some ways similar to aimless doodling, but the scale of the works refines the action into slow-motion madness. The technique is deliberately time-consuming. It requires persistence and dedication as well as avoidance of social noise.

This somewhat meditative way of working also acts as a silent protest against everyday life plagued by rush, noise and fragmentation, which consume our concentration, memory and conscious presence in the here and now. This refusal also speaks of unwillingness to participate in the futile pursuit of endless growth by accumulation consumption which, while bringing apparent abundance, consumes us and our environment.

The idea of Holarchy appears in these series in one way or another. Essentially, the works survey an individual entity’s relationship not only to their environment, but also to diverse components that together produce that entity.

Coined by Arthur Koestler, the concept of holarchy combines the principles of holism and atomism. The ideas have since been employed and developed in many fields of theory and practice, for example Ken Wilber’s integral theory which builds on transpersonal psychology.