The social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s were spearheaded by the charismatic, guru-like figure of Glasgow-born psychiatrist RD 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’ travellers, 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 later career shift: from well-recognised psychiatrist to celebrity poet. A dense, engaging and lyrical collage– Fowler interweaves archival material with his own film observations—marrying a dynamic soundtrack of field recordings with recorded music by Éric La Casa, Jean-Luc Guionnet, and Alasdair Roberts.
Luke Fowler was born in 1978 in Glasgow, Scotland. He is known for his film portraits of socially radical figures, such as the avant-garde composer turned political activist Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981). He has had solo exhibitions at the Serpentine Gallery, London; CAC Bretigny and X Initiative, New York (all 2009). He participated in BRITISH ART 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, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh and YOUNGER THAN JESUS, X New Museum, New York (all 2009).
Format: DigiBeta
Running time: 93 min
