Art is Illness
1990–1995
During medical studies, young doctors like me are confronted with terrible fates. No young person should know what terrible diseases there are and how terribly sick people have to suffer. The reality of death in the dissection room is overwhelming. Studying medicine was a major trauma for me. I developed hypochondriacal fears and over time imagined more than two dozen fatal illnesses. I had lymph nodes removed from my groin because I feared I had found Hodgkin’s lymphoma. When I was hot, I thought it was laryngeal carcinoma. Back pain is of course always metastases from prostate cancer. Because of slight twitching in my lower leg, I went to a neurologist in St. Gallen to rule out amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – my favorite phobia, by the way. During lectures, but also later in the hospital, I drew intensively. Drawing helped me relax, focus and create distance. Later in the psychotherapy sessions, I also used to draw and asked the patients to draw too. That’s how I became an art therapist. In the studio, I hoarded x-rays, crutches, canes and photos from medical books and combined them into a series of installations called “Art is Illness”.
During medical studies, young doctors like me are confronted with terrible fates. No young person should know what terrible diseases there are and how terribly sick people have to suffer. The reality of death in the dissection room is overwhelming. Studying medicine was a major trauma for me. I developed hypochondriacal fears and over time imagined more than two dozen fatal illnesses. I had lymph nodes removed from my groin because I feared I had found Hodgkin’s lymphoma. When I was hot, I thought it was laryngeal carcinoma. Back pain is of course always metastases from prostate cancer. Because of slight twitching in my lower leg, I went to a neurologist in St. Gallen to rule out amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – my favorite phobia, by the way. During lectures, but also later in the hospital, I drew intensively. Drawing helped me relax, focus and create distance. Later in the psychotherapy sessions, I also used to draw and asked the patients to draw too. That’s how I became an art therapist. In the studio, I hoarded x-rays, crutches, canes and photos from medical books and combined them into a series of installations called “Art is Illness”.
Cripple ladder, 1991, Munich, orthopedic photo on aluminium, aluminium ladder, free standing in a pair of skates, Gallery Mosel and Tschechow
Seeing – Walking, 1992, old roof battens and shoes, flexibly screwed together, Espace d’Art Contemporain in Lausanne
Seeing – Walking, 1992, old roof battens and shoes, flexibly screwed together, Espace d’Art Contemporain in Lausanne
X-ray cabinet, 1991, 60 shaving mirrors and X-ray images in one cabinet
Red Crosses, 1989, silkscreen on car, 5 boards produced by students of UMPRUM during the revolution in Prague
Shedhalle Zurich, 1992