This week I got an email from Hannah Hull www.hannahhull.co.uk about an event that she is running as part of her ongoing research into Art and Mental Health. It sounds interesting…..Its called “ART vs. REHAB: A seminar to explore and provoke new relationships between art and mental health .”
She says that ‘the purpose of the evening is to discuss potential futures for rehabilitative arts projects.’ And that she is inviting arts professionals to openly interpret the theme. I’ve drafted the following proposal as a responce… A bit different to my Masters Proposal but something I would be interested to talk about none the less. I thought that this topic would be most interesting for anyone in the audience who may be looking for positive and practical ways to use the arts and technology in mental health in their day to day working lives……..
Group Therapy: Biopsychosocial perspectives on art and new technologies.
This presentation introduces the work of artists using new technologies to promote positive mental health through bodily awareness. Articulating from a biopsychosocial perspective, I advocate that social interaction and bodily experiences are vital constituents of mental wellbeing and that crosspollination between arts and technology can help to facilitate this holistic approach to health.
My case studies will include George Khut’s projects; The Heart Library and Thinking Through the Body and Tania Fox’s Posture Enhancers. I incorporate examples of these works exhibited in venues such as hospitals, in the hope that I might inspire healthcare professionals and artists to think about practical applications in their own work.
In order to strengthen my argument, I provide a context for the relationship between technology and mental health by introducing recent thinking on the hybridization of psychotherapy and technology from publications such as the Journal of Clinical Psychology, where Michelle G Newman has claimed that “when questioned about sensitive life issues such as criminal history and suicidality, clients will disclose more substantive information to a computer than a clinician.” I hope that this argument will affirm the potential of technology to make a positive impact on the ongoing discourse around the arts and mental health.
More Info on Case Studies:
George Khut http://georgekhut.com/heartlibrary
Thinking Through the Body Project http://thinkingthroughthebody.net/blog/
Tania Fox http://www.design-interactions.rca.ac.uk/tania-fox…
Speaker Biog
Vanessa Bartlett is an artist, writer and curator based in Liverpool, UK. She is currently performance programmer at the Bluecoat. Her blog Group Therapy documents her research on the relationship between psychology, the arts and technology.
