Mixed media installation. Dimensions variable
[read project description]
Dr. Lupenheimen, M.D., D.D.S. is a museum, interactive performance, and Web site dedicated to the life and work of Dr. Lupenheimen offering insight into his intriguing combination of dentistry and psychiatry. The museum is a reconstruction based on manufactured evidence found in Dr. Lupenheimen’s personal journal and the postal therapy correspondence of his only patient, Barbara. The journal includes detailed descriptions of the doctor’s practice and a hand-written romance novel that borrows heavily from the dreams recounted in Barbara’s postal therapy correspondence. Reconstructed items include the three rooms of his practice, a paint by number self-portrait of Dr. Lupenheimen as a white stallion, a photograph of a woman and a white horse to be used as a cover for the doctor’s novel, three distinct wallpapers designed by the doctor for his offices with tooth, brain and tooth and brain combination motifs, custom china set matching his wall paper with slogan such as, “Good Mental Health Leads to Good Dental Health,” wisdom teeth with the doctor’s hand-written diagnoses and a tissue cozy used to hold examination gloves.
Guided museum tours are directed by audience’s questions as the story unfolds based on their curiosity. Participants are encouraged to take the self-guided audio tour that includes excerpts from Dr. Lupenheimen’s journal, letters from his patient Barbara and patient surveys.
The website and mailing list exist for participants to gain more information about the Dr. RFL Foundation and to become regional representatives of the museum. Visit the website at www.drrflfoundation.org.
This work blurs the lines between fact and fiction and challenges histories derived from physical evidence.