"Can you smell that?"
"What do you think that is?"
"Oh, this one is vanilla!"
Just after our visit to Lurie's Children's Hospital, Lena and I decided to tour the MCA museum. Not really knowing much about the museum, we were in for a pleasant surprise. It is a contemporary art museum that was founded in 1967. It is just across the street from the hospital so we decided to see what it was all about.
We came across this art piece that at first look was a beautiful piece, but as you got closer to it, it read on the floor "smell, don't touch". So we did just that, keeping our arms behind our back, we walked around this gigantic wall smelling the various ups and downs of the art piece. We got all kinds of smells from dirt to coffee.
Interactive art is a great way to get people involved, talking, and creating a whole new experience. It opens up the mind and soul to take in something new. What does this have to do with healthcare?
I has quite a bit to do with the healing process. Art has been studied over the years and its affect on patients. A recent study shows that having art in a hospital can positively affect patients and the environment by helping patients feel safe, socialize, support their identity, and bridge them with the world outside of the hospital. Interactive art can get the patient involved and create a community environment within the hospital. It gets people to become active and use the minds to think and use all of their senses. This can help in a different way through the healing process for patients.
I think that implementing interactive art pieces within hospitals can be another way of healing and bring a playful environment to the hospital setting. These type of pieces can be brought in to our project in a different way, thinking more about these spaces in which people are waiting for these healthcare trucks to arrive, what are they doing while they wait?
By creating spaces or structures that act as "waiting rooms", we can design them to be interactive spaces where not only are you sitting and waiting, but activities can be happening, making the environment more appealing to the community. This can alleviate the stresses that come with healthcare to a patient. By making these spaces welcoming and inviting, it can get the community involved and used to the healthcare system.
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Video and pictures taken by Luz Upegui via iPhone 7
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