The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) is proud to present All Divided Selves, a new feature length film by the artist Luke Fowler. Following his celebrated works What You SeeIs Where You’re At (2001) and Bogman Palmjaguar (2007), this is the third of Fowler’s works to take up the legacy of radical psychiatrist R.D. Laing.
The social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s were spearheaded by the charismatic, guru-like figure of Glasgow born psychiatrist R.D. Laing. In his now classic text “The Politics of Experience”(1967) Laing argued that normality entailed adjusting ourselves to the mystification of an alienating and depersonalizing world. Thus, those society labels as ‘mentally ill’ are in fact ‘hyper-sane’ travelers, conducting an inner voyage through aeonic time. The film concentrates on archival representations of Laing and his colleagues as they struggled to acknowledge the importance of considering social environment and disturbed interaction in institutions as significant factors in the aetiology of human distress and suffering. All Divided Selves reprises the vacillating responses to these radical views and the less forgiving responses to Laing’s latter career shift; from well-recognized psychiatrist to celebrity poety. A dense, engaging and lyrical collage- Fowler weaves archival material with his own filmic observations—marrying a dynamic soundtrack of field recordings with recorded music by Éric La Casa, Jean-Luc Guionnet, and Alasdair Roberts.
Developed during his 2010 residency at CCS Bard, All Divided Selves will have its premiere screening at Anthology Film Archives in New York City on November 3, 2011, followed by an installation at CCS Bard from November 9–December 16. The project will then travel to Inverleith House in Edinburgh in February 2012.
Fowler’s residency at Bard and the new film were both made possible with support from Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg and Mitzi and Warren Eisenberg.
About Luke Fowler
Luke Fowler is known for his film portraits of socially radical figures; from the avant-gardecomposer turned political activist Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981) to the Scottish psychiatrist R.D.Laing (1927–1989). He has had recent solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery, London; CACBretigny and X Initiative, New York (all 2009). Forthcoming solo exhibitions include InverleithHouse, Edinburgh and The Hepworth, Wakefield and Wolverhampton Art Gallery, made inassociation with Contemporary Art Society & Film and Video Umbrella. He participated in BritishArt Show 7: ‘In The Days Of The Comet’, and in ‘Radical Nature’ at Barbican Art Gallery,London; ‘The Associates’, Dundee Contemporary Art; ‘What You See is Where You’re At’, TheScottish National Gallery, Edinburgh and ‘Younger than Jesus’, X New Museum, New York (all 2009). He was born in Glasgow in 1978, where he continues to live and work.
Photo of R.D. Laing © John Haynes.
