Psicomagia abridged: a selection of letters written to Alejandro Jodorowsky
"Psycomagie social d’Alejandro Jodorowsky" from Poesía Sin Fin (2016)
Photo: Aya Yamamoto
pascALEjandro is the name that filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky and painter Pascale Montandon-Jodorowsky use for their collaborative projects. Alejandro devised an original method he calls "Psychomagic," combining aspects of art and therapy, which he has been practicing for more than forty years.
The people that come to him to seek advice, Alejandro "prescribes" to take action against the matters that cause their troubles, and demands that they remunerate him for his service in the form of letters to the artist in which they illustrate "their troubles, the according prescriptions, and the results of their subsequent actions." Displayed at this exhibition are several of those letters, with additional records of Psychomagic group sessions with people that have gathered through various processes exhibited in the room in the back. A contribution that particularly stands out regarding the Triennale's "Taming Y/Our Passion" theme, this work inspires viewers to contemplate on the format of the "ceremony" or "ritual" that people carry out in direct touch with each other.
pascALEjandro (Alejandro JODOROWSKY and Pascale MONTANDON-JODOROWSKY)
- Based in Paris, France
Photo: Aya Yamamoto
pascALEjandro refers to collaborations between filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky and artist Pascale Montandon-Jodorowsky, who are based in Paris, France. Over the course of 40 years, Jodorowsky has developed a therapy technique called "Psicomagia," which consists of small rituals taking the form of "prescriptions" customized through a series of consultations. In exchange, Jodorowsky asked only that the counselee write in a letter to him what the problem had been, what prescription was given, and what the outcome of the situation turned out to be. As many of Jodorowsky's prescriptions request that the counselee perform an action they had been dreading, his advice is often quite imaginative and radical. By utilizing the power of a ritual to carry out their action, the counselee is able to overcome the limitations that have been holding them back.
Selected Works & Awards
| 2018 | pascALEjandro: Alchemical Love (solo), Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, USA |
| 2017 | As Above, So Below: Portals, Visions, Spirits & Mystics, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland |
| 2017 | pascALEjandro - L'Androgyne Alchimique (solo), Azzedine Alaïa Gallery, Paris, France |
| 2015 | Alejandro Jodorowsky (solo), CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France |
| 2012 | Resisting the Present: Mexico 2000/2012, The Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France |
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