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Pierre Leichner // They say she is bipolar and he’s got OCD: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Text Re-Revised and Related Texts.


  • Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art 421 Cawston Avenue (unit 103) Kelowna, BC, V1Y 6Z1 Canada (map)

Pierre Leichner is an artist-researcher with thirty years of experience as an academic psychiatrist. In his exhibition, They say she is bipolar and he’s got OCD: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders Text Re-Revised and Related Texts, Leichner used his skills as both an artist and a psychiatrist as he carved, sculpted and altered mental health diagnosis texts to create sculptures that investigate questions surrounding the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders and related psychiatric books. He created book sculptures and paper cast objects, while documenting the process through photography, video and sound. Second-hand desks, library cases and tables were used to display molded tools, objects, and altered journals, all made from psychiatric books.

Leichner’s interdisciplinary approach led to the creation of plush DSM guide dogs on leashes that could be wheeled around the space. Another well-received access-point was DSM Diagnosis fortune cookies, which each contained a diagnosis of a different psychological disorder. The gallery held an immense amount of his work, including video documentation of DSM paper crane folding, archaeological photography of books that he sculpted in relief, and paper molds of faces. 

This exhibition coincided with the launch of the next DSM (V) in 2013, a text that often stands as the singular authority on shaping psychological language and thought in North America, and increasingly internationally. Discouraged by the unquestioned and unbalanced use of modes of intervention by health-care providers and the diminishing of humanness in healthcare, Leichner addressed biological, psychological, social/cultural, political and spiritual issues using a multi-sensorial and interdisciplinary approach.

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Pierre Leichner was born in Romania in 1947 to Hungarian parents who fled to France where he grew up until the age of 13. They then moved to Montreal. Leichner went to McGill for a Bachelor in Biochemistry, he obtained a Masters from the University of Strasbourg in 1969 researching Neurochemistry. Leichner went on to become a physician and specialized in psychiatry. After graduating from Queen's University and a year of research at the University of California in San Diego he started his academic career in Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba in 1978. Since then he occupied several teaching, research, clinical and administrative posts at McGill, Queen's and currently the University of British Columbia.

In 2002 he began on a part time basis, the Bachelor of Fine arts program at The Emily Carr Institute of Arts and Design. He received his BFA in 2007. To date Leichner’s work has reflected his view of the artist as an observer and commentator on society. He uses surprise, paradox and humor in his work to interest the viewers. Both the Arts and the Sciences share in their pursuit of existential meaning. In this, his interest will continue, perhaps bridging the gap between his scientific and artistic careers. Leichner obtained a Masters in Fine Arts from Concordia University in 2011 and is now beginning his career as a teacher and a practicing artist.

For more information about Leichner and his work, visit his website.