Axel Stockburger - JingShenFenXi

JINGSHENFENXI is a three-channel video installation that was realised as a collaboration between Lisa Meixner and Axel Stockburger during an artist residency in Chengdu, China. The piece poses a number of questions concerning the relationship betweenthe concept of Psychoanalysis and Chinese Culture. Since Sigmund Freud’s writing was translated into Chinese in the 1920s, Chinese history in the last century led to a disruption of discourse with such concepts. At present a new interest in the concepts of Psychoanalysis seems to emerge with analysts and scholars such as the Lacan specialist Professor Huo Datong who works and teaches in Chengdu. At the core of the installation is a video of a performance in Chengdu city where Axel Stockburger posed as a highly depressive Panda. The iconic power of this animal that is often connected to ease and happiness, as well as its use by numerous brands, agencies and artists made it an ideal vehicle for the projection of an emotional state that public audiences in the city could connect to. This video
is accompanied by a text animation which focuses on the Chinese translation of the word “Psychoanalysis” and the different layers of meaning associated with the characters. A third video consists of an interview with Professor Datong, posing questions about the function and meaning of Psychoanalysis in present day China.