Visualising the Invisible: Arts and Science Collaboration

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Visualising the
Invisible Arts and Science Collaboration
Karen
Heald, Dr Susan Liggett, Dr Richard Tranter
Prof Rob Poole
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Working in a UK based NHS hospital, Heald
Liggett, two contemporary artists, collaborate
with patients and staff, in a 71 bedded acute
adult psychiatric inpatient unit, engaging with
arts and science audiences.
The research enquires into the politics of
location, psychoanalytical theories,
psychological resonance and the philosophical
complexities of arts/science collaborations.
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Working in a UK based NHS hospital, Heald
Liggett, two contemporary artists, collaborate
with patients and staff, in a 71 bedded acute
adult psychiatric inpatient unit, engaging with
arts and science audiences. The research enquires
into the politics of location, psychoanalytical
theories, psychological resonance and the
philosophical complexities of arts/science
collaborations.
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• The research commenced by exploring
• Julia Kristevas concept that female
  subjectivity seems linked to both cyclical time
  (menstruation/pregnancy/repetition) and
  monumental time in sense of eternity
  (motherhood/reproduction/genetic chain)
• Psychological resonance, a particular part of
  the creative process that conjures up the idea of
  movement between something experienced (object)
  and its impact on the individual (subject).

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Karen Heald Susan Liggett
White Blue (2009)
Heald and Liggett are developing ideas relating
to a space an in-between-ness and
cyclical time from an art and science
perspective.
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Heald and Liggetts developmental concepts
relating to a space an in-between-ness and
cyclical time from an art/science perspective.
Heald began exploring Kristevas notion of the
semiotic chora as a preverbal space that relates
to rhythms, colours and trace, the preverbal
infant, the depressive and the psychotic. She
became interested in the aspect of the
unconscious/subconcious, through working with the
patients, exploring maternal/cyclical/monumental
time, poetics and the chora. Through dream
films she creates ambient environments, where
the audience is unsure as to whether one is
asleep/awake, or even in a state of
in-between-ness. Liggett found
in-between-ness relates to the stage in the
creative process where the artists in her
research could not articulate in words exactly
what they were intending in their work. The dream
state described as occupying in-between-ness
could also be akin to psychological resonance,
the movement between sites' or 'states of
being', that exists, but are intangible and
difficult to articulate. Exploring Winnicott
(1994) and Witkin (1974) Liggett suggests that
there are three areas of related experience, the
subjective, the objective and what Winnicott
calls 'potential space'. This 'potential space'
Liggett sees as having similarities to
in-between-ness. Heald and Liggetts work at
the hospital only enabled the artists access to
patients who are on/adjusting to medication.
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Karen Heald The Bird Cage (2002)
Video still - performance / installation -
former psychiatric hospital in ArToll, Germany
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Psychological Resonance

• The term 'psychological resonance' suggests a
  sensation, a resonance, or an echo in the mind,
  that cannot easily be described verbally, on
  seeing and experiencing a particular place.
• Thoughts and feelings generated in the mind,
  which are sometimes difficult to articulate, but
  are, perhaps, important in an interpretation of
  an experience. The problems arising from
  recognizing, defining and categorizing these
  emotions and feelings and how are they explored
  by artists in their work are of interest to me.
• Dr Susan Liggett (2008)

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Susan Liggett Pushed
then Flew (2003) 66 x 86 cm. Oil on linen
Psychological resonance reverberates between
the subject and object in a ceaseless
exchange between the artist, inspiration and the
viewer. Dr Susan Liggett (2008)
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Susan Liggett Mast not Anchor (1996)
Susan Liggett, Untitled (2003)
120 x 120 cm. Oil on canvas
137 cms x122 cms, oil on linen

Creativity is the result of inner listening, a
dialogue between self and other, subject and
object. Therefore knowledge of reality or
meaning does not lie in the subject or the
object, but the dynamic flow between them.
(Bohm, 1987).
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Karen Heald and
Sue Liggett The Artists Creation (II) 2008
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Building upon the work being completed at the
psychiatric unit and in collaboration with Dr
Richard Tranter, consultant psychiatrist, Prof.
Rob Poole, Professor of Mental Health and GP
surgeries, Heald and Liggett are proposing new
perspectives into the effects of anti-depressant
medications.
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• Scientists know that antidepressants subtly
  alter the way people perceive emotional stimuli
  around them, altering peoples social
  behaviours, on a level that people are not
  consciously aware of.
• Through arts/science research the collaborators
  are interested to explore if patient changes are
  reflected in the way people express themselves
  and respond to their environment, prior, during
  and post antidepressant medication.

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Film discussion 1 Karen - As artists our
driving force is our passion for what we do Rob
- Area daunting but really exciting different
kind of way for mental health treatment
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The collaborative arts/science practice will
explore these interests through creative, patient
lead, artistic expressions of change alongside
conventional, reductionist measures of changing
depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory)
producing sophisticated fusions of art/science.
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Film discussion 2 Richard - Talking about patient
experience Rob - triangle (artists, scientists
and patients all feeding back to one another)
Karen - As artists also as patients subject -
object
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• The difference between this research and the
  current project at the Ablett is that we will
• Be given access to patients pre medication -
  enabling us to work in GP surgeries and out
  patients departments to observe the patients
  before, during and after medication
• Work closely with a team of consultants and
  research staff at the University hospital,
  allowing this collaboration to reach a higher
  level of investigation
• Produce some cutting edge artworks

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• Proposed outputs from Research and Development
• Creative outputs
• Collection of two or three surreal, dream-like,
  films
• Installation comprising of twenty to thirty
  photographic and text based artworks
• These pieces will explore the relationship
  between the true self, reality or fiction, to
  create artworks that when viewed create
  uncertainty as to whether one is awake or asleep
  or in a state of in-between-ness.

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• Possible statements/questions for
  discussion?
• ?How does creativity relate to mental health and
  how does a search for the poetic help mental
  health patients?
• What are the benefits of art/science research
  projects and how can artists make a difference to
  social science qualitative research projects?
• How do we construct our reality? Can this
  process be manipulated through medications? If
  so, what are the implications for the
  authenticity of self for someone who has had such
  treatment?

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Selected References

• Bohm, D. (1987) Science, Order and Creativity,
  Bantam
• Foucault, M. (1966) The Order of Things,
  Routledge, London
• Kristeva, J. (1974) Revolution in Poetic
  Language, Routledge, London, UK
• Kristeva, J. (1979) Womens Time, Routledge,
  London, UK
• Singh, I. (2007) Clinical Implications of Ethical
  Concepts Moral Self-Understanding in Children
  Taking Methylphenidate for ADHD, Sage, London, UK
• Winnicott, D.W. (1971) Playing and Reality,
  Routledge, London.
• Witkin, R. (1974) The Intelligence of Feeling,
  Heinemann, London.

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Thank-you
Karen Heald - K.Heald_at_salford.ac.uk Dr Susan
Liggett - S.Liggett_at_glyndwr.ac.uk Dr Richard
Tranter - Richard.Tranter_at_wales.nhs.uk Prof Rob
Poole - Rob.Poole_at_wales.nhs.uk