ZNANSTVENO-STRUČNI SKUP / CONFERENCE
Estetizacija i rehumanizacija javnog prostora: umjetnost kao terapija
The Aestheticization and Rehumanization of Public Space: Art as Therapy
21. ožujka 2017. / March 21, 2017
Klub HDLU – Meštrovićev paviljon / Meštrović Pavilion, Trg žrtava fašizma 16, Zagreb
The Aestheticization and Rehumanization of Public Space: Art as Therapy:
The project entitled The Aestheticization and Rehumanization of Public Space: The Case Study of Artistic Interventions in Hospital Environment is a multidisciplinary project designed and overseen by artist Melinda Šefčić within the framework of the CreArt project 2017, gathering in collaboration the Croatian Association of Fine Artists with the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies of the University of Zagreb, the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research (within their project City-making: space, culture and identity supported by the Croatian Science Foundation) and the University Hospital Centre Zagreb located at Rebro.
The goal of the project was to examine the possibilities of revitalization, aestheticization and rehumanization of hospital space as we know it by introducing spatial interventions applying art and painting. The project aimed to encourage social awareness on identifying and accepting art as a constituent part of the everyday life. Furthermore, the project aimed to sensitize certain groups (patients, visitors and medical staff) to the creative ways of expression and to present art in hospital space as an opportunity for positive distraction, a quicker and easier recovery and a more stimulating working environment.
The artists who contributed to the realization and completion of this project are renowned Croatian artists, actively engaging their work towards the enrichment of public space. Ana Ratković, Damir Sobota, Sanja Stojković, Stipan Tadić, Tomislav Buntak and Melinda Šefčić intervened with their works, painting the walls on six locations within the hospital area: the patient discharge unit in the ambulance transport area next to the entrance to the main Rebro building; the waiting room to the Polyclinic of the Oncology Clinic in the Green Building; the wall next to the entrance to the Polyclinic of the Ophthalmology Clinic in the Green Building; the silent chambers in two booths at the Audiology of the Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery Clinic in the Green Building; the foyer of the Polyclinic in the White Building and the hallway next to the entrance to the Polyclinic of the Pediatrics Clinic in the Green Building. The participating students of the graduate and postgraduate program at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies in Zagreb are as follows: Ana Antolković, Maša Borović, Dinko Duančić, Marijana Paula Ferenčić, Tia Glavočić and Sara Mikelić, who were supervised and coordinated by Dr. Nevena Škrbić Alempijević, Dr. Valentina Gulin Zrnić and Dr. Jasna Čapo Žmegač.
The conception of artwork included artists and researchers getting acquainted to their work space, i.e. the hospital departments, and adjusting the execution of their artwork to the specificities of that space. Having selected the locations for their interventions, the artists produced a series of sketches in order to select a single one to be executed as their final piece. The student researchers contributed in the activities related to the overall process of the artwork production by keeping in-the-field ethnographic records and by examining the impact that the artworks generated over their surrounding environment. Their monitoring, detecting and interpreting of the multifaceted social and cultural processes contributed to a higher quality of recreating the complex hospital space. The diversity of artistic expression among the authors, as well as the variety of research approaches resulted in the meeting point that generated a plurality of styles sharing one common idea of enriching hospital space. The result was the creative reciprocity of artistic production and cultural anthropological research that offered a broader view on the construction of new space through the use of art. All research materials will be stored in the archives of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research as part of their City-making project.
The complete results of the project are presented in this catalogue and at the public conference The Aestheticization and Rehumanization of Public Space: Art as Therapy, held at the Home of Croatian Fine Artists on March 21, 2017, marking the European day of artistic creativity.
The project The Aestheticization and Rehumanization of Public Space: The Case Study of Artistic Interventions in Hospital Environment explored the possibilities and methods of raising social awareness about identifying the importance and necessity of introducing art into health institutions. The project has indicated the need for artistic interventions that contribute to the overall well-being and the positive distraction of patients, visitors and hospital staff, allowing them to use the color and line dynamics, images and emotions, impressions and reflections to overcome the negative connotations of hospital environment and in turn shape them towards optimism, health, newly found hope and life.
The successful realisation of this project implies among other things the need for multidisciplinary collaborations that enable the recognition of the positive impacts of visual arts and their inclusion in the manifold processes of contemporary transformations in cities.
The enrichment of hospital space through artistic production holds a strong potential for the co-creation of a more open society of tolerance and understanding.
Marijana Paula Ferenčić and Melinda Šefčić
