Press Release: Interferences, Art and the Hospital: the spaces between action and reaction

Experiences from the Meyer Hospital Florence, Marseilles and Manchester.
International conference
Saturday 28 November, 9am-6pm
at the Meyer Paediatric Hospital, Viale Pieraccini 24, Florence, Italy

On Saturday 28 November, the international conference "Interferences, Art and the Hospital” will take place at the Meyer Paediatric Hospital of Florence from 9am to 6pm.

The conference is entitled “Interferences” because art in a hospital setting stands out and stimulates both on a psychological and on a social level, of who breathes the anxiety and the fears of the environment of a paediatric hospital. The Meyer hospital of Florence bears testimony to this, having art integrated into the new hospital complex of Villa Ognissanti. Works that colour the areas and break up spaces and fill in time, in the wards, clinic waiting rooms, corridors, infiltrating into the garden, the stairwells, filling the voids of the large skylights, offering itself as a stimulus in the relationships between the workers, the young patients and their families. The experience of the Florentine hospital is not intended to be art therapy or a Disney scenario, but rather an art that "stimulates reactions and relations between those who share it."

Amongst the speakers at this international conference, organized by the Regione Toscana (Department of Culture, Department for the Right to Health) and the Meyer Foundation, are the semiologist Omar Calabrese and Peter Scher, from the Arts of Health from the Faculty of Health Art and Design at the University of Manchester. The most important international experiences will be presented, such as a project for the Hospital of Marseilles by Michelangelo Pistoletto, creator of Cittadellarte, who will be present with a contribution. The conference, which will begin with opening remarks by Tommaso Langiano, President of the Meyer Foundation, aims to build a path so that the "Art at the Meyer laboratory” and what has been achieved elsewhere, can be replicated in other hospitals. Art at the Meyer is not mere decoration but is an interaction with the children, even in the many laboratories active in the Toy Library.

In particular, to outline the planning capacity with the declared intention of making it possible in other hospital contexts, the conference Interferences, will be divided in two: in the morning the theme will reflect what has been achieved to date. There will be a whole session dedicated to artistic experiences already activated reflecting both national and European realities, according to a holistic view of the Hospital, which in turn should reflect a multiplicity of visions and perceptions, to contain and to recall from elements of everyday life to the fantastic and to the imaginary. Paolo Cocchi Councillor of Culture for the Regione Toscana (Tuscan Region) will speak in the morning.

In the afternoon, importance will be given to "The practice of doing", to define the possible strategies for development and for consolidation. A round table is planned, to analyse the tools and levers used to activate other art experiences in the hospital setting; in occasion of the project proposed by the Regione Toscana for the construction of four new hospitals, where humanization and environmental aspects will run parallel to the design of the hospitals.

At the end of the conference at 6pm, ten panels inspired by the first book of Pinocchio by Fabio De Poli and made by the children's crèche, Noé in Florence, will be presented.

How to participate.
Registration is necessary and should be completed via the web at www.meyer.it/interferenze
There will be a coffee break at the opening (9am) and closing (6pm) of the conference, offered by the Meyer Foundation

The experience of the Meyer Hospital.
The Paediatric Hospital of Florence, within the context of Meyer Art, a project desired and supported by the Meyer Foundation, houses works of art by artists such as Esther Albardanè, Altan, Dario Bartolini, Carlo Cantini, Sara Carlini, Fabio De Poli, Francesco Fagnani, Gianni Fanello, Sophie Fatus, Paolo Favi, Simone Frasca, Paolo Guidotti, Janet Mullarney, Daniele Nannini, Giovanni Pecchioli, Peppe Perone, Andrea Rauch (Artistic Director), Guido Scarabattolo and Sergio Traquandi.

Interferences: Art and the Hospital, 28 November 2009, from 9am -6pm,
Main Hall of the Meyer Hospital, Viale Pieraccini 24, Florence www.fondazione.meyer.it
www.regione.toscana.it

Press Office: Roberta Rezoalli, Meyer Paediatric Hospital Meyer Foundation, Viale Pieraccini 24, 50139 - Florence (Italy) tel. + 39 055 566 2302 mob. + 39 335 6860 677 www.meyer.it

PR and communication: Studio Abba, info@studioabba.com tel. +39 055292082 www.meyerart.info