Hans Rosenström
A House Divided
Rosenström worked in collaboration with professional hypnotherapist Charles Montagu to explore the mechanisms of words and persuasive techniques used on patients in hypnosis.
Rosenström explains: “The voice interests me on multiple levels. It is intimate and personal yet it transcends the boundaries of our bodies and with it we affect our immediate surroundings. I feel that we often forget that when we speak we are not just making a sound, but are also invading another person’s private sphere.”
The words themselves make explicit the functions of the voice whilst their delivery; overlapping and interweaving and eventually sounding in unison – mimics the meaning of the words. Thus these vocal principles and techniques are demonstrated in a physical sense as we listen in the space.
The words gravitate from the private recognition of the self to our awareness of and connection with the public around us. The work contemplates how words can affect us and are ultimately used to both construct the self and transform the other.
Text: Hans Rosenström; Voices: Helen Millar and Charles Montagu.
Hans Rosenström’s artistic practice combines site-specific, spatial installations with sound, text, light and constructed elements. Rosenström sees the viewer’s presence as pivotal for the work. It is their proximity and existence that completes the work and allows for an experience with a specific moment and space. Often the work forces the participant to question their senses and the nature of perception itself, forcing a greater awareness and sensitivity to their surroundings. The immaterial becomes a highly physical and often psychological experience that provokes an emotional response, addressing and contemplating issues of isolation, group cohesion, privacy and spectatorship.