Science Gallery TRAUMA Exhibition: 'Hysteria' dance film until Feb 21

How does the body record the traumas of the past?

Hysteria is a new dance film, screened every night on the streets of Dublin; a compelling thirteen minute visual experience on the theme of trauma. It is created by choreographer/director Maurice Kelliher, performed by Daniel Whiley [Punchdrunk, Sweetshop Revolution], and commissioned by Science Gallery Dublin as part of their current exhibition, TRAUMA.

Hysteria integrates iconic medical footage from 1917 of "shell-shocked" soldiers and explores the visibility and invisibility of pain, and is a hymn to those who have suffered a profoundly traumatic experience.

The footage was filmed at two English hospitals during World War I documents the anguish of some of the patients: symptoms of so-called ‘war neurosis’ suffered by returning soldiers - now referred to as PTSD, and just as frightening and complex an experience today as it was 100 years ago.

“The soldiers - the broken men in the archive footage that really inspired this project, are so distressed that their bodies are unable to contain and control it.”, said Maurice Kelliher. “There’s no shame in it, but these people would have been stigmatised - as they would be today. Under certain circumstances, any one of us could be this distressed - so this film is about the human experience of profound pain, and what it looks and feels like when we are no longer able to hide our mental and emotional anguish”.

Hysteria is screened nightly, from 8pm to 8am, in Science Gallery Dublin after the gallery closes. It can be viewed from the street, and will run until the TRAUMA exhibition ends on Sunday 21st February.

Screenings will run until the TRAUMA exhibition ends on Sunday 21st February.

Watch a 2-minute video extract here

For more information visit the Science Gallery website

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