From the documentary "A Poet in the Cinema: Andrey Tarkovsky" (Un Poeta nel Cinema: Andrej Tarkovskij, 1984, Donatella Baglivo)
a disembodied voice put the question to him directly:
“Andrei, what is art?”
Tarkovsky, looking even more pensive than usual, declares that “before defining art — or any concept — we must answer a far broader question: what is the meaning of Man’s life on Earth?
Maybe we are here to enhance ourselves spiritually.
If our life tends to this spiritual enrichment, then art is a means to get there.
This of course, in accordance with my definition of life
Art should help man in this process.
Some say that art helps man know the world like any other intellectual activity
I don’t believe in this possibility of knowing
I am almost agnostic
Knowledge distracts us from our main purpose in life
