Video Installation

Doublethink

DOUBLETHINK is a video installation housed inside two shipping containers. Visitors are faced with a binary decision — enter the door marked HATE or the one marked HOPE. They can’t experience both

The piece incorporates monologues written by Stuart Evers and performed by George MacKay. The music was composed by Warren Ellis (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds/Dirty Three). The piece was created initially for Sheffield Doc/Fest, installed in Tudor Square for the duration of the 2018 festival.

“We’re drawn to this idea that contrary states aren’t a binary choice. Doctrines and ideologies that force people to one side of the argument or the other invariably filter out all the beautiful shades of grey in between. So that’s really what this piece is about – it’s asking us to embrace the grey area.” – Iain & Jane

DOUBLETHINK was supported by Wellcome, with input from mental health researchers including Prof. Emily Holmes, Dr. Robb Rutledge and Dr. Susanne Schweizer.

“We often come back to the famous Milton quote from Paradise Lost, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” We’re intrigued by how much they rely on each other. Right and wrong, good guys and bad guys, awe and terror, angels and demons. The poet William Blake wrote, “Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence.” – Iain & Jane