ACVIC AMB LA SALUT
ACVIC FOR HEALTH-CARE
CONTEMPORARY ART FOR WELL-BEING
ACVIC has opened up a new approach; a programme to bring contemporary art to hospitals, specifically for long-term hospitalised patients who are unable to visit spaces for the contemporary arts.
Initially, a short-term project was launched with activities within hospitals. In the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown, the structure and magnitude of the project have been reconsidered, expanding its outreach further with new and complementary activities. In order to develop the project more fully, and to grant it the time it deserves, various phases will be rolled out at different times.
The project aims to incorporate new artistic practices in the hospital environment, based upon the advice of external experts; setting in motion an initial project with long-term patients that will function as a seed for this collaboration, and that will ultimately lead to continuing research on artistic practices in hospitals.
It is our intention to begin a collaboration that we believe to be necessary. ACVIC, as an active agent in the communication and development of contemporary art, understands the social tools that it may offer. Art, as an expression of culture, has a definite role in caring for people, and may provide tools for the expression of the feelings and emotions of both patients and their relatives at an emotionally delicate time such as a hospital admission.
WORKING GROUP
A working group has been set up consisting of people linked to the fields of healthcare and art, who meet periodically to shape the programme. These people are:
Toni Cirera, designer of educational materials.
Núria Gorchs, nurse and lecturer at the Faculty of Health and Welfare Sciences of the UVIC-UCC, a specialist in bereavement.
Vanessa Pedró, Family and Community Nurse, ABS la Vall del Ges - CAP Torelló. School Nurse and Teacher of the Faculty of Health and Welfare Sciences of the UVIC-UCC.
Tere Pérez, CCCB Protocol and promoter of the CCCB Alzheimer's Programme.
Eva Rovira, nursing coordination of the Faculty of Health and Welfare Sciences of the UVIC-UCC. R
oser Sanjuan and Laura Vidal, members of the team at the Centre d’Art La Panera in Lleida.
Bruna Dinarès and Maite Palomo, members of the ACVIC Centre d’Arts Contemporànies team.
> More information about the program
PERSONAL PORTRAIT
An educational resource
Using contemporary art, we intend to find a means of expression for those whose ordinary lives have been forcibly interrupted due to loss or illness.
We are considering specifically people who have been hospitalised due to sudden illnesses, the elderly in residences or hospitals, and people with functional diversity, or intellectual disabilities, and we are also considering those around them who have also been affected. This project is also applicable to disadvantaged groups and, in these times of crisis, takes into account the double version of loss, due to the health crisis and the social crisis.
We understand that the shock of a sudden break with ordinary life involves a range of disturbing emotions that must be expressed somehow. Contemporary art can provide us with a useful resource for recognising and releasing some of the anxiety that these situations entail.
Structure of the activity
The activity has a clear and well-defined structure, but with a flexible dynamic that may be adapted depending upon the needs of specific groups, changing circumstances, and group leaders.
Participants are asked to create a personal portrait using techniques from contemporary art. A portrait that defines the participants at the time of the activity, that expresses the complexity and intensity of the experience, that reflects the present moment, rather than what “we are”, or the image of what we would like to be. Contemporary art allows us to express conditions in process, without the need to be well defined, and with the possibility of exhibiting doubts and contradictions.
To help participants with the task, they will be provided with a list of guidelines that will suggest a pathway to self-understanding, and towards the way to express feelings through art. With the materials in the suitcase, participants will be able to develop their project.
Who may use this resource, and how?
1. Patients’ groups in hospital, groups from primary care, the elderly, people with functional diversity or intellectual disabilities and also their carers, relatives and others affected by loss or bereavement.
2. Health workers and care workers.
3. Children of school age, and other groups of young people interested in working in the fields of bereavement and loss.
CONNECTIONS
Intergenerational conversations
A project that links ACVIC Centre d’Arts Contemporànies, Residència el Nadal, from the Fundació Hospital de la Santa Creu and one institute of Vic. It is developing since the 2020 - 21 school year.
Connections explores, through contemporary art, a communication pathway between people of different generations; on the one hand, the young students from one institute, and on the other, the senior citizens who live in the Residencia El Nadal, in Vic.
The project revolves around the concept of communication as reflection, and as a method of connecting people from these two settings. How may we get in touch with senior citizens living in residences, if we cannot visit them due to current health measures? What needs have they for communication and contact? And what do young people make of this situation? How do we communicate with each other? How do new technologies influence this communication? How do young people communicate? And what about senior citizens? What are the differences between correspondence by letter, communication by video call, and conversation by whatsapp? What advantages does each have over the others?
For the students of the Institute, the project forms part of their community service (APS), which they may choose to do voluntarily, and which they do outside the ordinary school timetable, devoting a total of 10 hours to the work.
Professionals at the Residencia El Nadal will introduce the students within the context, so that they may familiarise themselves with the residential space. The ACVIC educational team will support participants throughout the work process, which will take place at the art centre. But the students themselves will give shape to the project, deciding which content to include, and the best way of making contact.
> more information of CONNECTIONS: The different editions