ART vs REHAB is ongoing collaborative research to explore and provoke new relationships between art and rehabilitation, led by Hannah Hull and supported by LCACE and Goldsmiths, University of London. This research has and continues to consist of outreach projects, seminars, focus groups and writings.
The below report contains ten key themes drawn from the ART vs REHAB Seminar held at the Centre for Creative Collaboration on 25 October 2010.
This seminar was designed to contribute to the core aims of this research: generate critical dialogue around the relationship between art and mental health, with the aim of strengthening practice in this field. 50 people from the full spectrum of this field attended.
A series of three 20 minute presentations were made:
I spoke about my observations in using a conceptual art model when working with people with backgrounds in mental health, suggesting that political, social and therapeutic aims are implicit to conceptual art, and that by maintaining the autonomy of the artists and artwork, this model allows for a more attainable social inclusion.
Artist David Clegg spoke of his experience of spending ten years recording the shifting memories of Alzheimer's sufferers, and discussed the use of arts projects as marketing tools for the agencies that commission them.
Occupational Therapist Jacqueline Ede spoke of how to tell if participants are really engaging in arts outreach activities, recounting her experience of participants being secretly isolated, the effects of this, and how to spot it.
The presentations were followed by an hour of audience-led group discussion, compèred by Paddy Gormley. Delegates were asked to bring their own questions to the seminar, and be prepared to share the ethos of their practice. This discussion generated the themes laid out in this document, with the addition of my own personal reflections.
The drawings within this documentation are by Jo Buchan, an illustrator who 'drew' the discussion on the walls of the seminar room as it happened. Audio documentation of the event, recorded and edited by Paddy Gormley, is available alongside this report and via artvsrehab.tumblr.com.
The themes can be seen as starting points for further discussion within this ongoing research. If you would like be involved in any way, please do get in touch. Feedback, exploratory writings, links to related case studies and research, etc, are warmly welcomed from any person reading this report.