Inside my head, it is dark red (2019)Museum Ovartaci, Aarhus, Denmark
A film project on voice hearing, listening and the human conscienceness.
Approximately 200,000 Danes are estimated to hear or have heard voices. Of these, only one in three actually becomes a psychiatric patient, while two-thirds are able to handle the voices without psychiatric help. There are many prejudices about the phenomenon and many people who suffer from voice hearing experience stigmatisation. Most of those diagnosed with schizophrenia become patients in psychiatric wards, where heavy medication are using in order to try to silence the voices.
In April and May 2019, Danish sound and visual artist Louise Vind Nielsen moved into Museum Ovartaci i Aarhus, where she opened what she called the "Voice Workshop". Here, the voice, voice hearing and other psychoacoustic phenomena were in focus. Through conversations with voice hearing people, sound artists and other "experts" in voice, voice hearing and listening, Louise took as her starting point voice hearing as being much more than just an unwanted symptom of mental illness, but rather a phenomenon to learn from. What happens if we start listening to voices and giving voices meaning? Is the subject always subject to the voices or is it possible to master the voices? What do the voices sound like and where do they come from? How is voice hearing perceived in other cultures? Can the voices tell something about problems and diseases in society?
In the film "Inde i mit hoved, så er den mørkerød" (Translates: Inside my head, it is dark red) various voices appear. You hear the voice of Medea, who is said to have murdered her children - a fictional narrative based on the story of Medea and Jason from Greek mythology. You hear excerpts from Louise's conversations with people who hear one or more voices in their heads, you hear a paranoid schizophrenic musician talking about his acoustic hallucinations, you hear a speech therapist who herself experience all sounds as shapes and colours (synaesthesia), and a local voice hearing consultant who is one of the world's leading experts in voice hearing.
The visual part of the film shown nothing but the same piece of green screen fabric. The material it commonly used as a background for film and photography where it is exchanged with another image in order to create an illusion of a different space than the actual space in which the picture was captured. The green screen color is normally the color which you would try to hide and eradicate completely in film. Thoughout the film Louise exposes the background to different lighting which makes the color constantly change.
Here you can watch the film (in Danish language with Danish or German subtitles).
Danish with Danish subtitles:
Danish with German subtitles:
