The Health Clinic (2010-2011)

Beginning with the preliminary list of images, we identified works of art for the health clinic. Our process involved multiple conversations in a team consisting of Cool Aid Health Service’s facility staff, university students, and Legacy Chair. We at the university learned much about images in a health care setting. For example, we found that nurses and doctors often decorate exam rooms with instructional posters such as acupuncture charts not because they especially like them, but because these are the images they have to work with. We also learned that they would prefer to avoid representations of the human body in art in this setting, as a means to help their clients move beyond their bodily afflictions.

Once the images were selected, students used a 3D computer software program to design a preliminary installation plan. They identified a lead image, Roy Tomlinson’s A Dove within a Hawk is Flying (c. 2000), to communicate the transformative process of the clinic’s mission. They also created a didactic panel about work scheduled for installation that was created by Courtney Milne, who turned to making art as a way to help him in his struggle with diabetes.

Installation plans for each of the clinic venues were further refined as the UVAC installation team and Legacy Chair hung the works of art after the close of the semester. Some modifications were made at this time, to accommodate chairs, traffic patterns, and lighting. The plan was modified one last time about a week later, after one image was found to be “too pink” by some members of the staff, and as other art was found to be in the way, too near to examination tables.

As we worked on the plan for the health clinic, we also developed “Connect the Blocks” (2011), a companion exhibit for the Legacy Gallery. Our goal was an exhibit that called attention our collaborative design practice. The exhibit consisted of squares of paper that we asked our visitors to write or draw on and then hang in our gallery, on a 3 metre x 5 metre Velcro covered rectangle. More than 500 contributions were hung, including some from Cool Aid staff members and patients, and over the course of three weeks, the relationships between images were renegotiated numerous times, re-curated spontaneously by gallery visitors.

Installation Plan for Cool Aid Community Health Clinic.
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