This is really interesting, love it. As a musician, I've also thought a lot about this over time, especially in context of the usually mindless muzak that's piped into hospitals, waiting rooms, dentist offices, and above all, restaurants, which are all designed to conjure some type of mental behavior or state, but mostly just annoy me with their generic mediocrity, in most cases.
A very good point about music in hospitals. I suspect there's a bunch of research out there on what kinds of music are actually calming and soothing, and I bet it's not muzak, or soft hits of the 80s and 90s
So true! Kind of a corollary of this I was thinking about while having a discussion/debate with my partner, who is also a writer and filmmaker—sort of on the subjects of gurus etc. Who supposedly outline the Golden Methods you can follow to arrive at expressing the greatest potential of your art, writing, etc. If you follow them well enough..not that there’s not something to it, I just always feel a bit inherently skeptical of someone saying such things, no matter how successful they are—simply because like your great examples here, the real depth and scope of human experience, emotion, etc. Is vast and deep, taste is fickle and changes over time, and we need to be careful about putting too many limits on things/on a gut level, I’ve seen or experienced too many “good” examples of expression that don’t neatly fit into proper categories or mainstream enough, that it seems to me: if it works it works, if it doesn’t it doesn’t, if we’re being totally honest, and that’s ultimately what matters. What do you think?
It sounds like your art would maybe be suitable and they just don't have the imagination to think of anything beyond landscapes. It captures "the magnificence of mother nature" and it's joyful and not boring. Certainly no empty benches or oversized fruits or clouds in it. Just send them some ideas!
I guess I could submit...the point of the piece was less about that and more about the ideas people have about what art is appropriate for the hospital environment
This is really interesting, love it. As a musician, I've also thought a lot about this over time, especially in context of the usually mindless muzak that's piped into hospitals, waiting rooms, dentist offices, and above all, restaurants, which are all designed to conjure some type of mental behavior or state, but mostly just annoy me with their generic mediocrity, in most cases.
A very good point about music in hospitals. I suspect there's a bunch of research out there on what kinds of music are actually calming and soothing, and I bet it's not muzak, or soft hits of the 80s and 90s
So true! Kind of a corollary of this I was thinking about while having a discussion/debate with my partner, who is also a writer and filmmaker—sort of on the subjects of gurus etc. Who supposedly outline the Golden Methods you can follow to arrive at expressing the greatest potential of your art, writing, etc. If you follow them well enough..not that there’s not something to it, I just always feel a bit inherently skeptical of someone saying such things, no matter how successful they are—simply because like your great examples here, the real depth and scope of human experience, emotion, etc. Is vast and deep, taste is fickle and changes over time, and we need to be careful about putting too many limits on things/on a gut level, I’ve seen or experienced too many “good” examples of expression that don’t neatly fit into proper categories or mainstream enough, that it seems to me: if it works it works, if it doesn’t it doesn’t, if we’re being totally honest, and that’s ultimately what matters. What do you think?
Great piece Michele! Yes some commissioners write a brief that totally infantilises hospital users and then wonder why they get bland art.
It sounds like your art would maybe be suitable and they just don't have the imagination to think of anything beyond landscapes. It captures "the magnificence of mother nature" and it's joyful and not boring. Certainly no empty benches or oversized fruits or clouds in it. Just send them some ideas!
I guess I could submit...the point of the piece was less about that and more about the ideas people have about what art is appropriate for the hospital environment