THE GHOST WILL SHOW US - 2013

MTVS / Street analysis commissioned by One Big City project The Kitchen, CEC Artslink NY

With New York based psychoanalyst Vakhtang Gomelauri I worked on an art project concerning street psychoanalysis.  In the streets of Brighton Beach, where immigrant communities (immigrant communities deal with illegality related fears, struggles with identity and subsequent depression) form the majority, Vakhtang conducted brief introductions to psychoanalysis. The offered street sessions left the participants with some basic knowledge of the psychoanalytic practice.

Vakhtang provided psychoanalytical service. He talked about the essence of psychotherapy and about the problems the client encountered. In both cases it was psychoanalytic psychotherapy. For both immigrants and as well as for citizens of NYC, it brought the experience of professional psychotherapy presented in an unorthodox manner. 

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I documented the process with watercolor drawings and transformed the textual material together with a dramaturg into a (semi-fictional) script performed during the event The Ghost Will Show US at The Kitchen NY.

I created contextual drawings where the analyzed subject appears within his living environment, (street, building, park etc). The drawings showing the immigrant/citizens status at present time and their social economic interactions and depict the difference in lifestyle of multi-ethnical groups in NYC and tell us about everyday life.

Immigrants & people from disadvantaged areas have the stigma of being parasites, this creates paranoia amongst these groups resulting in isolation or staying within small communities. The joined method of visual-drawing/mapping and psychotherapeutic practice tools are to overcome paranoia and the stigma of parasitism. The method is to start by getting people to talk about their social activity in the city, about how they are affected by society and in return their effect on society. These stories came together in nonlinear manner and  created TV-theatre with traces of the lives of different migrant groups and local individuals.

 

For an audience that does not have a migrant background the performance offered a means to understand the problematics that a large part of the world population face today. We explored and captured the feelings and problems different marginalized groups experience within US society.