For this week’s presentation and project delivery ‘The Change I Want to See’, we met in our tutor groups with Cecilia and all shared the problems that currently affect us or others around us.
It was interesting to listen to other people’s projects in the group as issues in their home countries were addressed, which were in some cases, also really personal to them. Hearing about this made me think how privileged I am in some ways as in their home country they do not get equal freedom as I might experience in Germany or the UK.
I also listened to my peers’ past work experiences, which gave me an insight into how communities in different sectors work around the globe and what they have to battle with, which often is being taken for granted in many European countries. I was able to compare this and realized how workers in Asian countries are being challenged in ways such as staying up much longer, which a German worker cannot imagine in this way, as in most cases everyone is leaving work by the clock.
For my own presentation and work which was focussed on healing and relaxation within hospital environments, I was able to get supportive feedback, such as taking into consideration if this will be publicly or privately conducted, as it would depend on how much could be implemented in the hospital rooms and what budget would be used.
The idea arose that a collaboration with the artists ‘’Teamlab’’ could be a potential as mentioned in my presentation.
To begin with, I could consider doing an interview with one of the artists of Teamlab, to see what is feasible and what other ideas they might have that can be inspiring for this project, as well as not become too complicated to recreate within a hospital environment. To create those hospital rooms, a collaboration with a charity could also be taken into consideration. In addition, one of my peers mentioned a charity from her own country Spain, which sends mothers to hospitals to support children who are orphans or have no one to talk to. This was an interesting point as it addressed one of the issues within hospital spaces, which is the lack of a support person.
We also discussed the lack of resources in hospitals, and even if they have access to resources they are not utilizing them effectively.
After reviewing my project we also highlighted the importance of deciding on a country, as each country is different within hospital environments. In my case, it would most likely be the countries I personally have access to which are Germany and the UK.
My tutor also made me consider the importance of being sensitive with patients and mindful when I want to consider interviewing them, as they might be in a fragile state.
I was advised to reach out to charities and to potential artists, such as light artists for instance, and to examine what exists within the NHS already and what doesn’t yet or what exists outside of it. Then from there, I could locate myself within this existing environment. Finally, I would dive into different sciences for my secondary research that can be supportive to medical science, such as my recent investigation into ‘Vastu Shastra’. In addition to that I would like to do an interview with a Vastu expert in order to find out how they could see an advancement within hospital environments.
After the tutorial, I was able to do an online interview with an art director who specializes in film, writing, and image. For her, I prepared the following questions:
- What is the potential for creatives to provide healing spaces for patients in hospitals?
- Why is this necessary?
- How would you add your skills to spaces?
- What calming methods could you implement?
I received the following answers:
Creatives can introduce a variety of methods into spaces from painters, to sound artists and poetry. All these elements could be infused at low-cost budgets to provide healing spaces for patients.
I believe this is necessary, as at present sound and visual interactions can be very draining in hospitals. If there are specific rooms for healing then it is a moment away from the disturbance to apply modes of relaxation.
My skills are managing design teams across film, writing, and imagery, hence I could possibly explore projections and reels for patients to watch that are similar to gallery experiences.
I feel sound is very healing so I would consider implementing this into imagery and film.
This was really helpful for my research and a good start, as she provided me with the idea to create an engaging room outside the actual hospital rooms, just within this environment that everyone in the hospital would have access to. In this engaging room, she envisions projections on walls to showcase film or imagery. This could be supported by sound, as this is a tool she personally finds useful to calm her down during her work and has a healing effect on her. She visualized how this could be applied to hospital rooms too and could also be kept on a lower budget.
Inspirational images of projections:
