4.15 EBack
Peinture placebo ©
Placebo paint
/
Biology of the placebo
Dr. Patrick Lemoine, psychiatrist
/
When prescribed judiciously to the informed patient, placebos that are suitably dosed from a relational standpoint have proven capable of significantly altering white blood counts, cholesterol levels and blood pressure. What is this quack remedy that is able to act on the body when it is, by definition, devoid of any active ingredients ? By what internal mechanisms can human beings affect the course of organic disease by the sheer strength of the imagination ?
It is conceivable, of course, that factors such as social conditioning, interpersonal relations, autosuggestion and heterosuggestion may play a significant role. Might the human brain be nothing more than an enormous gland designed to secrete a specific hormone, Thought ? Such an assertion is difficult to defend, however, since both animals and infants have also proven sensitive to the placebo effect. By what channels, then, through what microscopic workings, does the body initiate a cascade of reactions that are capable of curing the patient, sometimes in spectacular fashion ?
No one, at present, has a complete answer to this thorny question. Some incipient explanations have begun to emerge, however. For example, it is known that during aggression, the human body sets in motion a whole series of phenomena that lead to the production of natural substances, which are, in effect, so many autosecreted medicines. These are known as endosubstances. A number of these substances are known, have been isolated, and have even been used to synthesize remedies. Examples are endorphins and encephalins, which can combat pain and give pleasure ; endo-antimitotics, which are capable of fighting cancer ; endo-antibiotics, which can destroy microbes ; endotranquilizers and endosoporifics. The list is far from exhaustive, and much remains to be discovered. Nevertheless, it is apparently the case that placebos function by triggering the release of these therapeutic endosubstances.
It is scientifically conceivable, therefore, that a room painted with a soporific placebo, an infusion containing a homeopathic dose, for example, would encourage rest in a person consciously or unconsciously convinced of secreting an endohypnotic. In the same way, a room decorated with an aphrodisiac placebo would improve sexual performance by increasing the release of endorphins, which are precisely the natural substances of ecstasy.
PL
/
/
/
Ginger room / Orange blossom room
/
There has been tremendous interest of late in so-called "natural" medicine, the irrational adjunct to the incredible scientific developments that have taken place in genetic engineering and chemical therapy. These natural modalities include aromatherapy, homeopathy and flower-based remedies, not to mention anti-stress perfumes, birch-juice depuratives, linden relaxing massage cream and tonic hydrating oil with green maté and ginger. The alternative medicines and other natural therapeutic methods, which are termed "irrational" because they have no scientific foundation, are unquantifiable, and cannot be reproduced experimentally, seem to be the expression of a superstitious ideology celebrating harmony of the senses, ecology and a certain form of humanism that resists the reductive technicality of modern science. To avoid thinking of magic in order to understand and accept alternative medicines on a rational basis, we must revert to the scientific notion of the placebo, which, although still quite mysterious, nevertheless points to certain neurobiological and endocrine mechanisms at work in this type of therapy. A placebo stimulates the production of endogenous substances. By this fact, and since their action is completely dependent on the psychological make-up of the individual, the placebo seems to be a humanistic key within the organic nature of man. As such, it is an expression of free will. Given the disconcerting simplicity of action of genetics and its terrible efficacy, its effective reduction of human nature to the organic level, the notion of the placebo restores to a scientific context the elements of freedom and humanism that seem to have been marginalized for a number of years. The placebo paint© that we are presenting for the exhibition at the Paris Museum of Modern Art offers the kind of stimulation characteristic of a placebo. By incorporating an infinitesimal amount of ginger or orange blossom into industrial white paint, we seek to designate the intended purpose of a room outside the realm of any visual or plastic representation. For instance, for bedroom walls we offer a paint containing a high dilution of orange blossom of 1 / 1030, i.e. 15 CH. At this dilution ratio, no active ingredient can be documented by academic pharmacology. Placebo paint© gives off no odor other than the industrial odor of the base product. Nor is it distinguished by a particular color. Odorless and invisible, placebo paint© acts solely via the placebo effect by imparting a psychological attribute to the space. Next to the bedroom, we propose an erotic stimulation room painted with a placebo paint© containing a 15 CH dilution of ginger. It is our ambition to act on a presensory level, to create a sort of infrafunctionalist architecture, generating its forms within the neurological and endocrine space of the body. The orange blossom room will be relaxing. The ginger room will be charged with eroticism./
/
/
Peinture placebo©
Installation, Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, France, October 25, 2001, to January 6, 2002
/
Décosterd & Rahm, associés
Collaboration : Eva Jospin
/
with Dr. Patrick Lemoine,
/
Graphic Design: Optimo / Dr. K7
/
Placebo music at 1 / 1030 dB ( 0.000000000000000000000000000001 dB )
composed by AIR ( J-B Dunckel - N. Godin ) :
1 / 1 MP© orange blossom 16 :39 ( J-B Dunckel - N. Godin )
2 / 1-MP© ginger 06 :69 ( J-B Dunckel - N. Godin )
/
Placebo paint©
15 CH ginger placebo paint©
15 CH orange blossom placebo paint©