Voyage Pathologique, Video, 14:24 mins, 2018, Original language: French (English/ German subtitles available)
Why do we travel to places of great historical and cultural significance? What draws us there?
"Vous qui partez pour Florence, Venise, Vienne ou Léningrad, méfiez-vous des foules, des pick-pockets…mais surtout des émotions esthétiques!" (“If you are travelling to Florence, Venice, Vienna or Leningrad, beware of crowds, pick-pockets... but especially aesthetic emotions.”) This is advice given by Italian psychologist Graziella Magherini in her book "Le syndrome de Stendhal - du voyage dans les villes d´art".
In 1979 she attributes symptoms of rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion, hallucinations or even physical pain after being confronted with a piece of art to a syndrome named after the French writer Stendhal who describes similar sensations in his book Rome, Naples et Florence.
Voyage Pathologique creates a poetic view on text excerpts from Graziella Magherini describing real cases of people’s individual struggles with certain pieces of art.
Voice: Jaques Duboux
Voice recording: Kwinten Van Laethem.
This project was realized during a residency at Cité Internationale des Arts funded by Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral
Still frames from "Voyage Pathologique”
Exhibition view: Kunstverein Ludwigshafen
Video: Voyage Pathologique, bench with water pillow, 2018
Edition: Voyage Pathologique, medic alert bracelet, engraved, silver in paper box, 2019
Excerpt from the two-sided poster edition “Mi sono innamorato di una statua - I’ve fallen in love with a statue” with Stendhal Syndrome Self Test, 2019