Schizophrenia
Theater of the Mind
By Daniel Burns
Introduction to the artwork
Artwork so far...
Look for more artwork in the future...
By: Daniel Burns
Theater of the Mind
Schizophrenia
Ever wonder how schizophrenia can affect people’s lives? This artistic installation will take you on the journey through a psychotic break and back out. You start on a day where others can hear your thoughts. As you travel into the depths of the schizophrenic break you will see pictures depicting thoughts (which will be broadcasted throughout the installation) and feelings that are common for a person on a schizophrenic break. In the first room, you will encounter six mixed media paintings, five metal sculptures and supporting materials, a live video, a poster, a UFO and a light sculpture. Next, you will proceed to the following room and start to explore the next nine rooms of “Schizophrenia: Theater of the Mind”.
In the second room, you encounter a bedroom, set up the very one I was living in when I had a six month psychotic break. A stick figure is sitting on the bed, thinking. Three speakers will broadcast these thoughts in the room. Inside the bedroom is the control room, which the public can see. You see a model of the video camera/ smoke detectors and twelve monitors showing everything in the installation on video. You are shown that everything you do is on camera. I will reconstruct two paintings from that time period to hang in the room, which will also have a bed, dresser, nightstand, coatrack and a full length mirror.
The third room you enter is a city scape, with buildings that are eighteen feet tall and warped. You encounter plaster sculptures of people that whisper obscenities to you when you walk by. You will also experience strangers pointing at you, talking about you, paparazzi taking your picture, and a stick figure reaching for a plaster policeman’s gun.
Next, you enter the “wrong” room. The word, “wrong” is alternately broadcasted loud from eight speakers in the ceiling, so you never know where the sound is coming from. “Wrong” is the answer to questions in your inner dialog. There will be four paintings and three mirrors to imitate what a person on a psychotic break feels like. Every five minutes, projectors will display text on the walls, which are instructions of what you do next: take a pill or do not. If you don’t take the pill you enter one door (red) ,if you take the pill, you enter another door (green). When you enter the red door you will be in a padded room (institutionalized), sleeping under the night sky (homeless), or hanging from a tree (suicide). This room also has the word, “wrong” broadcasted throughout. This room is a dead end and you will have to exit by the green door and you will need to take a pill to continue.
When you take the pill, or if you had previously chosen to do so, you can open the green door, which is weighted with 50 pounds of sand in it. You enter a hallway that has fog knee high and is cold (45 degrees) with writing on the far wall. The noise from the “Wrong” room is quiter at this time.
After exiting this room/hallway, you are in the first phase of recovery. Here you encounter a wooden stick figure with a wall of mirrors behind it. In this room you will experience learning to have affect in your face, suicidal thoughts, the need for safe, stable housing, work history, literature for help, and the need for friends and family. There will be an area to do and display art, art supplies will be supplied. This is a good spot to stop and discuss what you have experienced up until this point. The furniture will look like it is from a mental health institution. You will have to take another pill to exit this room.
For the second phase, you will enter a room with a mural on the wall of depicting “outside looking in”. There will be four photographs, four paintings, a mirror, and a metal sculpture that will represent what recovery looks like at this point. A tight rope walker will be strung from one side of the room to the other. This room will also have art supplies, an institutional table and chairs for discussion and art. You will have to take a pill to proceed.
The final room and third phase, has twelve paintings of flowers covering a wall with the text “ I paint this now”. In the middle of the room will be a less “institutionalized” table with art supplies and an area on the wall to display the art the patron has made. This room will also have three video booths for sharing your thoughts and a surprise ending via 30 second video.
I designed "Schizophrenia: Theater of the Mind" to fit in the Large Grand Gallery at the Frye Art Museum. I would also like to use the adjacent galleries for other artists that have mental illness to show their work. I would entertain a different location but cost could change and I would like to keep it free. If you have any questions or comments please contact me.
Watch the video at www.SchizophreniaTheateroftheMind.com
Best Regards,
Daniel Burns
www.SchizophreniaTheateroftheMind.com
SchizophreniaTheateroftheMind@gmail.com
www.danielburns206.com
2614 42nd Ave SW #205,
Seattle, WA 98116
206-949-0498