I had a wonderful time in London last weekend. The old red wine monster got me big time on Saturday night, followed by the gin and curry monster on Sunday. By the time Monday arrived I was feeling bloaty and green with overindulgence and lack of sleep- not exactly the perfect circumstances for sitting down to the Art V’s Rehab conference. Yet bravely I soldiered on and spent pretty much the the entire time wedged in a corner of the conference room… saying very little. My networking with a hangover skills could use some work!
I’m very glad indeed that I braved it though, as it was a super event.
The format was well crafted, with three very interesting speakers presenting followed by group discussion on questions that had been posed by all delegates. I was happy that my question came out as one of the first to be discussed: ‘What role can art institutions (galleries and theatres) play in mental health rehabilitation’. This provoked lots of interesting responses – both positive and negative. It was widely felt that an official public space such as a gallery lends a sense of legitimacy to participatory projects for groups who may come from the position of ‘outsider’ due to long term hospitalisation etc.
Its interesting though, that the language around ‘mental health’ remained cemented in quite a conventional ‘us and them’ type of perspective. As in ‘how do we the artists work with… them.. the mentals.’ Not that the conversation was in any way disrespectful at all, but I was relieved when Jacqueline Ede flagged that the term ‘mental health’ can occasionally be problematic because it brackets an experience outside of normal life. I’ve struggled with this in my own writing and tend to try to use the term ’emotional and psychological disturbance’ where possible. However even this falls short of the mark. I wonder if artists might have a role to play in finding language to better express the fact that the human brain varies incredibly from person to person and that bracketing certain psychological behaviors as ‘illness’ can be detrimental.
On this subject, I’m lucky to be in possession of a catalogue from the Extreme Bodies: Extreme Minds Festival that took place in Zagreb last week. Its really engrossing and I’ve just tackled the first essay called How Did We All Become Mad? which deals with the idea that many aspects of everyday life are becoming pathologised as a result of the actions of the pharmaceutical industry. Its also got a really interesting perspective on mental health issues as ‘natural selection’ due to the excessively complex structure of our brains. What is particularly lovely is the author’s assertion that:
‘the world is extremely heterogeneous and everyone ought to be able to find some niche in which he or she can thrive in their own particular way, according to their own particular criteria. Todays’ evolutionary biologists are increasingly revealing that the creation of specific niches is just as important for survival as natural selection, which means that we ought, instead of adjusting to fixed circumstances, change these circumstances in such a way that they respond to the needs of our different brains.’
Zoran Roško How did we all become mad?
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