Interview with Tania Gheerbrant

Tania Gheerbrant presents the first part of a new multimedia project revisiting our ways of seeing, hearing, and perceiving the world. With ‘Twin in the Clouds and Other Stories’, the artist begins an in-depth research through the ages around a psychic phenomenon known as “hallucinatory”: hearing voices. If in the past these manifestations were considered prophetic revelations, divine signs, or magic, they are today mainly the subject of medical and psychiatric studies. Far from this diagnostic approach or a quest for a scientific response, Tania Gheerbrant essentially approaches this phenomenon from an artistic and metaphorical point of view and ascertains it as a rich expression of meaning emanating from a powerful subconscious.

To better immerse visitors in this universe, the artist creates a contemplative installation facing the landscape referring to both the boudoir and the psychoanalytic couch: sitting on this double bench implies agreeing to immerse oneself in the troubled waters of an unknown lake blurring the boundaries between documentary and fiction, the real and the imaginary. Three video lenses are inserted in the seat like portholes to inner lives. This parade of stories, images and sounds is inspired by the testimonies of people who hear voices, like the story of Jaj who, in addition to recounting his experience in a recorded interview, performs a rewriting of the song ‘Les Dingues et les Paumés’ over a clarinet tune played by Constantin Jopeck in the film.

Twin in the clouds and other stories, 2023
Voice hearer 1 and Singer: Jaj
Voice hearer 2 (fiction) : Jany Lauga
Camera and color grading: Dominik Zietlow
Mixing and musical rewriting: Diego Alorda
Clarinet: Constantin Jopeck
Voice-over (English): Felipe Vasquez
Original music (rewritten): Les Dingues et les Paumés,
Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine.
Video coding-synchronization: Max Blotas