Rivista "IBC" XXVII, 2019, 4
Dossier: Heritage explorations across Europe
musei e beni culturali, dossier /
This work package aims to critically explore the interconnectedness of heritage and well-being and their significance as emergent and urgent, core agenda at the level of policy-making, professional training, public engagement, social impact and critical-academic research. The emphasis placed in the definition of health by the
UN World Health Organisation on - not only the absence of disease - but the presence of physical, mental, and social well-being has led to raising awareness of the role of culture and heritage. Moreover, the relationships between heritage and well-being reveal intimate links between two realms: on the one hand, ‘past/tradition/memory’ as complex resources for constructing/re-constructing personhood, on the other hand, repertoires of resilience, cosmologies of care and emergent coping strategies. Both derive from attempts to define, control and sustain well-being in desired futures. The core to understanding these dynamics can be seen as the potential of cultural heritage to create more just futures.
This work package is aiming to focus on ensuring a thorough grounding of diverse conceptual issues and theoretical perspectives regarding heritage and well-being that cross over biomedical, cultural-linguistic and psycho-social domains, while pursuing novel techniques and interventions that span the ‘Medical Humanities’ (i.e. ethnographic, clinical, visual-material culture, museological and interpretative). The research methods will be part of the broader cross and interdisciplinary perspectives that uses comparative insights to throw critical light on the differences that emerge in research findings as well as exploring synergies. The work package will also address public engagement needs and with diverse partner institutions with an emphasis upon disseminating findings, public learning and patient advocacy.
Relations with objects
Katie O’Donoghue
My background in Fine Art & Design and a masters in Art Psychotherapy aids in the conduct of the research project, facilitating object handling, interview sessions with patients undergoing treatment for cancer. The study ‘Developing holistic-participatory interventions to enhance well-being and recovery’, is a four-part, qualitative, ethnographic study that explores heritage objects as a means of supporting the well-being of individuals affected by cancer. The title ‘Relations with objects’ identifies the core research concerns and is inspired by psychodynamic theory i.e. object relations theory. The project is informed by the research of Lanceley (2011), Butler (2017) and Rowlands (2016), examining both collective heritage (museum objects) and personal heritage objects (heirlooms, personal and lucky objects) as a means through which patients can express and explore their own narratives. People with cancer may often feel vulnerable and experience many difficult emotions, including fear and anxiety. Different ways to support the emotional and mental health of patients are needed.
Previous research with heritage objects has taken place in hospital settings where the objects were museum objects with age value. Patients found that handling these objects and talking with a professional about them provided a welcome distraction from the routines of hospital and also helped them talk about the personal impact of their cancer illness. The objects utilized may stand in stark contrast to the ‘object world’ of the chemotherapy treatment suite with its intravenous fluid stands, metal treatment trolleys and medical equipment. The study is exploring participants’ relationship to these ‘object worlds’ and investigating if and how the heritage and personal objects may therapeutically breach the day-by-day flow of time during chemotherapy administration along the patients’ 6–8 month chemotherapy treatment trajectory. Results from the study will inform the development of a supportive treatment, which may utilize both heritage and personal objects, to enhance well-being and resilience during chemotherapy treatment.
Art, Heritage and well-being
Khaled Elsamman Ahmed
Europe has a long history of using art as a catalyst for healing in its hospitals (Cork2012). The research project looks at how hospitals, as public spaces, use and relates to art and cultural heritage, and how they are associated with the local population, ideas and concepts of the importance of art for well-being. The research also investigates how the aesthetic expressionand how visitors (staff, patients, relatives, etc.) experience the environment and interact with art in a hospital environment. The project investigates how art (in a broader sense) is perceived and experienced in a hospital context and how different kinds of cultural heritage are used and embedded within different kinds of artwork as well as the motives that contribute to the curative and artistic decisions. The research considers both the artistic values as perceived by different actors and the creative and curative decisions made in relation to art in a hospital setting.
The empirical part of the research takes place at Angereds Närsjukhus hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, through ethnographic fieldwork consisting of participant observations and interviews. The research is specifically examining how the artistic values and qualities are understood, appreciated and how they affect people's feelings and experiences as well as the motives behind the choice of art.
The project examines four types of materials/data which together form the basis for the analysis and the results that the project will offer. The first type of material consists of policy documents, which typically are created through a political process, and will be analyzed using some of the established qualitative research methods (e.g. Bowen, 2009). The second type consists of interviews with Angereds Närsjukhus staff, where questions about the importance of art for well-being are explored. The third type consists of observations made by the researcher in Angereds Närsjukhus environment; partly by the aesthetic aspect and art of the hospital context through an aesthetic analysis, and partly by observing people's interaction with the space and the art. The fourth type of material consists of semi-structured interviews with people who are in Angereds Närsjukhus environment and who are patients or other types of visitors (friends, relatives). These data will form the basis for a critical analysis of how the use of art and cultural heritage in a hospital environment works and is reciprocated.
Conclusion
The research of this work package aims to critically explore the inter-connectivity of heritage, art and well-being. It examines the perceptions and definitions of what denotes those terms as well as investigating how these terms are directly experienced by the participants involved. The research address highlighted gaps in current evidence, and their findings provide recommendations for further interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, hopefully projects may assist in providing a future framework for heritage and arts interventions in health and social care, and influence policies related to them.
References
Butler, B. 2017, The Efficacies of Heritage: Syndromes, Magics, and Possessional Acts,in “PublicArchaeology ”, n. 15 (2-3), pp. 113-135.
Bowen, G. A. 2009, Document analysis as a qualitative research method , “Qualitative Research Journal” , n. 9 (2), pp. 27-40. doi:10.3316/qrj0902027
Cork, R. 2012, The Healing Presence of Art: A History of Western Art in Hospitals, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Lanceley, A. 2011, Investigating the therapeutic potential of a heritage-object focused intervention: a qualitative study , “Journal of Health Psychology”, n. 17 (6), pp. 809-820.
Rowlands, M. 2016, The Elderly as ‘Curators’ in North London, in Pye, E. (ed.) The Power of Touch: Handling Objects in Museum and Heritage Context. New York: Routledge.
“Strand” (2012) – a visual explosion of colour and form – Stuart Haygarth’s artwork commissioned by University College London Hospitals for permanent display at the new UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre in London.
Angered Hospital main hall. A mechanical art installation resembling clouds is seen hovering above. The main waiting area is sometimes used by local women as a meeting area to socialize.
Visitors of Angered Hospital are encouraged to engage with most of the artworks. The chair seen in the photos serve as both art installation and seating area.
Azioni sul documento
