Our Director of Patient Environment, Trystan Hawkins recently spent a week in Japan at the invitation of Nagoya City University and Healthcare Art, with support from the Japanese Ministry of Culture, where he shared our arts in health programme with healthcare collaborators and arts experts from around the country.
Trystan spoke at International Symposiums on Health Care Art Management at Nagoya University Hospital and the Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. As one of just two lecturers invited from the UK, Trystan discussed how we use art, design and participatory activities to transform the hospital environment for our patients, visitors and staff, leading workshops and guided discussions with our Japanese colleagues on the importance of arts in health.
Whilst in Japan, Trystan discovered how the country is currently incorporating art into healthcare, and the benefits it has shown so far. Trystan toured the new Nagoya City East Medical Centre which officially opens in December, with architect Mr. Shinohara Yoshinori and lead artist on the project Mr. Shingo Takano, as well as the Aichi Children’s Health and Medical Center, which had an impressive range of installations with live music permeating the public spaces.
To learn more about dementia care in Japan, Trystan visited Nonbiri village in Aichi which is an inspirational example of residential care for older people, including those with dementia, consisting of social spaces and a cafe designed for and by the community.
Trystan met with Tokyo based art collective teamLab, an interdisciplinary group who use art, science, technology, design and the natural world to transform spaces. We are exploring how we might work together to bring the natural world into our hospitals through innovative technology such as digital plants. Click here to learn how we are using new technologies to transform the hospital experience for patients and staff.
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