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The word placebo ("I will please" in Latin) entered the English
language by way of a peculiar mistranslation of the 116th Psalm that
read, "I will please the Lord" rather than "I will walk before the
Lord".
In these studies the photographic tension between objects and portraits
reveals temporary states of anxiety, stress, depression, sadness or
melancholia. Regardless of our moods we all have to "please" someone,
the Lord (in the past) or simply the others through our social or
intimate relationships. In this process where any failure is forbidden
Pills, before any medical effect, have to please us just as the Pearls
and all the favorite items of our environments are expected to do.
This archaeology of contemporary placebogenic factors explores the role
of real pills, sugar pills and placebos through their association with
reassuring objects of our daily life underlining their fetishistic and
obsessional value. Perfumes, jewels and other hygienic items are
functionally equivalent to antidepressant medications. They participate
in the placebo effect, improving mood like drugs do, developing a
visual and colorful placebogenic semiotics.
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