The Uncanny Archive analyses haunting artworks from the realms of photography, fine art, and film. Our digital archive brings eerie and otherworldly art to light and explores the Freudian phenomenon of the uncanny through art, as well as the connections between art and the human psyche. Join us on this digital odyssey as we curate and delve into spellbinding works of art created by both established and emerging artists.

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“The uncanny” is a bemusing, unsettling phenomenon characterised by a feeling of disruptive eeriness and unreality piercing through the fabric of the mundane. In Freud’s view, “the uncanny” is something that is frightening, yet familiar; it generates a particular type of response in one’s psyche and evokes an ineffable feeling. The uncanny generally teeters on the blurred lines between reality and illusion, self and other, life and death, the natural and the unnatural.

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In fiction, the uncanny has often been associated with recurrent themes such as the double/doppelgänger figure, reflections, mirroring, strangely familiar apparitions, haunted homes, horror, & the symbolic return of the repressed in the form of ghosts, monsters, or other Gothic figures. In art, objects such as wax masks, automata, and lifelike dolls tend to be described as uncanny.

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The term might also summon up thoughts of what is known as the Uncanny Valley, emphasising the unsettling, sometimes repulsive effect of things of an ambiguous lifelike nature, objects that appear to be human and alive, but upon closer examination reveal themselves to be flawed human replicas.

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Psychoanalytic discourse emphasises the subjectivity of the phenomenon, shifting the focus from the objects themselves (which are not inherently endowed with uncanniness) to how we, the observers, experience certain objects, settings, situations, as well as art shows and artworks, in a way that perceptually challenges or disrupts our sense of reality, making us aware of the unfamiliar present in the familiar, and resurrecting phantom elements or modes of perception from our past.

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Within these intimate moments, our being has an inner dialogue with the unconscious, whilst a haunting sense of unreality temporarily permeates the fibres of our existence. In this light, the uncanny encompasses experiences such as a human subject unconsciously or seemingly accidentally returning to the same spot several times (as if compelled or pushed by an external force), the feeling of deja-vu, a peculiar sense of being watched, potentially by something supernatural, finding objects that you thought were lost forever, or stepping into an empty place that is normally filled with people.

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Mission

The overarching mission of the Uncanny Archive is to stimulate art and film appreciation, enhance understanding of art and film, as well as encouraging meaningful discourse about the psychology of art.

We explore ethereal and uncanny art in every form.

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With an active social media presence and over 80k organically-gathered followers, the Uncanny Archive has remained a consistent source of connection and art appreciation for engaged, devoted worldwide fans.

London, UK

diana@uncannyarchive.com