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Lucy Beech, Pharmakon, 2016. Installation view at FACT. Photo by Jon Barraclough

Pharmakon (2016)

Lucy Beech, Pharmakon, 2016. Installation view at FACT. Photo by Jon Barraclough

Lucy Beech, Pharmakon, 2016. Installation view at FACT. Photo by Jon Barraclough

Lucy Beech’s new film Pharmakon is an interpersonal drama that explores how disease operates in an era of mass communication. The film focuses on female group dynamics, and how support networks can care for the individual whilst conversely intensifying symptoms. It examines how connectivity in this context can be both illness and remedy, and how diagnosis is dependent on our ability to impose particular narratives on the body. Shot and produced in sites across Liverpool, the screenplay has been developed through the artist’s active engagement with therapy groups, advocacy websites, patient forums, and interviews with clinicians working within the field of delusional infestation. The film is also part of the Software episode.

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