Hold Still

220cm x 70cm x 75cm

Steel, glass, wool, polyester, swing, film

This shelter adopts the aesthetic of 1950s medical apparatus with particular reference to Wilhelm Reich’s Orgone Accumulator. In the form of a cabinet, it was designed to absorb and conduct biological energy through alternating layers of wool and steel onto a concentrated inner surface where this energy could then be passed to an occupying body. This raised energy level was capable of unblocking a trauma or attacking an illness. Although imprisoned for making fraudulent claims, Reich’s contribution was honest, accessible and perhaps at odds with the then burgeoning predilection with pills and medication. Elements of this research have been adapted to construct Hold Still in which such an energy transfer is possible, not to necessarily treat an illness but to act as a catalyst.