Christian Suhr is a filmmaker and associate professor at Aarhus University. His previous research has focused on invisible spirits, psychiatric illnesses, demonic and divine forces, and how film can be used to approach unseen dimensions of human life. He has explored these topics during fieldwork projects in Egypt, Papua New Guinea, and Denmark. He is the author of the book Descending with angels: Islamic exorcism and psychiatry, a film monograph (Manchester University Press 2019) based on a feature length film of the same title. Suhr’s edited work includes the books Transcultural montage (Berghahn 2013) and When the media sets the agenda (DJØF 2021).

The HEART OPENINGS project focuses on the experience and cultivation of love in religious and contemplative practice. Christian Suhr (PI) invites for a discussion of the project, which is planned to be conducted over five years (2021-2026) in collaboration with Buddhists, Christians and Muslims in Denmark, Nepal, Papua New Guinea and Egypt – possibly also including additional contemplative communities in other parts of the world. Using audiovisual and microphenomenological methods, HEART OPENINGS seeks to examine the sensory and emotional structures of concrete experiences of love. Through participant observation and life history interviews, the project will examine and compare how the cultivation and experiences of love impact and emerge from people’s everyday lives across different contemplative and religious traditions.