Project Hypnose X
“NOVIEW” is a critical debate on the theme of techniques of manipulation, examining the gap between what one can see and what is not shown. I worked with a hypnotist and had him hypnotize the models.
The realization of the project lasted 3 days. During this period, a total of 25 sessions were held with the models. Photographs and a video documentary were created about the production process. I asked the New York psychoanalyst Dr. Dan Lutzker to put the models into a state of trance by applying hypnosis techniques. Another identity was suggested to the models in this state. The examples and behaviours were taken from the beauty industry and/or a glamorous pop culture. They provided a view onto the subtexts of the media world influencing us. On the other hand, they were also taken back into their own pasts – and consequently, into different age groups.
Among other scenarios, the photo models were also brought into conflict situations in the hypnotized state, and were later interviewed about their individual sensitivities toward the experience. Their responses spanned from differentiated critical comments up through intense emotional outbursts. After the interviews the models were again restored to the characters originally assigned to them.
Photography and hypnosis are used as memory and visualization techniques in this work. A doppelganger, or second self, is created, from whom another, inner reality is taken. This is where the analogy of photography and hypnosis becomes apparent. Both photography and hypnosis are techniques that create images. There is interplay between the “inner” and “outer” image, the visible and the invisible.
Hypnosis – actually rather a “private” subject – turns public in these photographs. Where is the borderline between the public and the private? Who has the right to take photographs of whom? And under what circumstances?