“Do you hear them through your ears or in your head?”, 2016,
performance with live singing and projected questions, 16 min, Oct. 16, 2016, Fraud, Fake and Fame – Goldrausch 2016, St. Johannes-Evangelist Berlin 2016

Singers: Lea Hanselmann (soprano), Martin Lorenz (tenor) and Marcus Gartschock (baritone)
Special thanks to: Prof. Eleanor Forbes
Photography: Ulrike Hannemann, Florian Denzin

What is the line between the question that is meant as an invitation to share or an interrogation?

Following this thought, the performance “Do you hear them through your ears or in your head?” consists of two elements: live singing and the projection of research questions concerning the experience of hearing voices. Three singers fill the space (a church) with their voices, continuously creating emotional variations ranging from caring warmth to eerie doubt, lost sadness, borderless rage and, finally, contemplative calmness. The singers are invisible as they stand hidden in the architecture.

They are accompanied by a “soundless organ”: the space usually inhabited by the church instrument now becomes the space for the projection of questions. These questions are based on a research interview conducted in Ghana, India, and the USA on the experience of hearing voices in/outside of the body.

Selection of questions projected during the performance:

Have the voices changed over the course of your life?
Do they have a gender? Do they have an age?
If you listen to the voices, what do they say?
How do you know they are not your thoughts?
How would your life be different without the voices?
What’s the difference between you and the voices?