Re: Subconscious Mining

Re: Subconscious Mining is an audio narrative made for the exhibition Life on Planet Orsimanirana, by Jerszy Seymour, M^C^O and Assemble, at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg.

A collaboration between artist Alban Karsten and hypnotherapist Erik Willems, Re: Subconscious Mining explores the effects of advertisements in public space on the subconscious. As a research method, they created a scenario to walk through while Alban is under hypnosis.

In this scenario, Erik has been hired as a hypnotherapist by a bathroom furniture company that wants to advertise in public space, while Alban is a passerby (and potential client) walking through his hometown. He has to find out what Alban’s subconscious thinks, feels, and associates with their products. For example, their new authentic farmhouse sink. The bathroom furniture company wants to use this knowledge to improve their products, and come up with better and more targeted marketing.

“Apparently, our attention is worth something. According to recent studies, people in the Netherlands process about 5.000 advertisements a day in public spaces. Five thousand. I can’t really grasp what this number means. Sounds like a lot. Did I expect it to be tenfold?”