In 1959 at the Ypsilanti State Hospital in Michigan, Dr. Milton Rokeach assembled three schizophrenic men for a study concerned with each man’s claim that they were Jesus Christ. In theory, and according to Rokeach’s grant proposal, the experiment was to shed light on the psychological formation of human belief systems. Rokeach hoped that by facilitating conversations between the Christs, he could cure them. He believed that when confronted with a living, breathing contradiction to an adopted identity each patient would shed their “delusion.” Observations lasted two and a half years and the study’s results were deemed inconclusive. In the end, Rokeach and his assistants only succeeded in further entrenching the Christs in their identities. Rokeach compiled his work in the book The Three Christs of Ypsilanti. Twenty years after the book’s publication Rokeach apologized for his study, claiming that he too “played God.”
All three Christs remained wards of the state of Michigan until the twilight of their lives.
This body of work was produced with material from Rokeach’s The Three Christs of Ypsilanti, Rokeach’s archive at The Michigan State University Archives and Historical Collections, The Ypsilanti Historical Society, The Archives of Michigan, and The Saline District Library.
Inteferences I, II, & III (2018)
Xerox Transfer Prints on Rives BFK, Topical Anesthetic, Black Walnut
98” x 50” x 2”
Images Courtesy of The Archives of Michigan, Michigan State University Archives, and the Ypsilanti Historical Society.
Hollowed Out Gods (Instrumental) [2018]
Sound, Black Walnut
Duration Infinite
Hollowed Out Gods is a generative sound piece. The work plays conversations the Christs had fifty years ago at random rates and in a random sequence. All three of the Christs’ voices were recorded by the same performer.
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A Rotating Chairmanship (2018)
Porcelain, Black Walnut, Earth from [42.161798, -83.697082], Felt, Resin
Dimensions Variable