A column on the role of art on wellbeing, with an in-depth look at Artherapy, a discipline recognized by numerous scientists, that investigates the impact of the beauty of works on people.
Do we need a doctor’s prescription to visit a museum? Apparently yes! This is exactly what happens in many countries of the world. Art is a cure for anxiety and stress, constantly growing factors in our congested and chaotic cities. The theme of mental health is now an integral part of the programs of the largest international museums. In Great Britain, for example, a national social policy program “Arts on Prescription” that lasted for twenty years, in which the general practitioner can prescribe the patient to carry out cultural and artistic activities.
Level Office Landscape’s Art Projetcs
So we were not wrong when we launched the project Art in Schools, Art at office and in other unconventional places, where people would never expect to find art and beauty. We have never made a secret of it, our point of reference has always been only one: Adriano Olivetti and his business idea.
Not only we have written about it, theorized and documented it through examples (many of which – not to mention all – abroad), but also through a tangible commitment, with the creation of offices and headquarters for numerous companies. Contemporary office projects in which Massimo Gianquitto guaranteed the curatorship in agreement and harmony with the clients, who commissioned the creation of the offices with an extra touch of beauty.
Like the recent project for Bene Assicurazioni, in which the work of artists Camilla Falsini and Ortica Noodles merges with a contemporary design, conceived to support activity based working and provide employees with everything they need in terms of space. The same goes for Tecnoferrari, where the company bistro incorporates a site-specific work by the street artists Etnik.
Artherapy at the Musem
There are, therefore, many other examples of Artherapy to cite, such as the ArtScience Museum in Singapore which launched a project in 2020 with the exemplary title: Art of Being Calm. Or the National Gallery of Scotland which shared real artistic laboratories with the Edinburgh children’s hospital. From Canada to New Zealand, many projects aim to make people share experiences of creativity and sociability in a world where loneliness is on the rise.
The aim of these initiatives is not only to make visitors, or rather people, feel safe during museum and artistic activities, but to increase understanding, recognition and acceptance, reducing the onset of mental illnesses, encouraging the at the same time integration and change. It is about offering an extraordinary opportunity for education, which also encourages personal reflection, producing psychological well-being.
The museum, or the factory and offices, thus become a tool of connection between the individual and the community made up of workers, suppliers and customers who frequent and experience the reality of the company, improving the perception of themselves and others. Because metaphorically we are not islands, but archipelagos.