From the “Conversion” Project

Michal Heiman’s work, Con-ver-sa-tion, shows the artist wearing a Sigmund Freud mask, sitting by a bed where a young girl lies, as is customary during psychoanalysis. The artist reads a case study described by Freud in his research of hysteria, which he additionally describes as the conversion of a repressed traumatic memory into a physical symptom. New readings of this research criticize it extensively, all the while allowing it the stature of a fascinating text. Thus, while the question “Is the mister a doctor?” echoes in the work, the artist’s image in the mask signifies the performative-creative aspect tied in with the act of interpretation.