Digital Nature for Healthcare
Research on visual Art & Healthcare to reduce stress in children
Research on visual art & healthcare to reduce stress in children.
What is it about?
This Phd Project focuses on promoting positive, artistic interventions based on evidence and research to improve the quality of life of young patients, mainly by concentrating on visual aesthetics that enhance mental well-being.
In consultation with children, healthcare staff and educators, this PhD project explores visual preferences of children and narrative approaches to create relaxing digital illustrations for new media applications.
Curious ? Read the research paper Medical art therapy of the future : building an interactive virtual underwater world in a childrens hospital. The book includes the full research is available in paperback (dutch) and soon in digital format (English).
The research was funded and conducted at St Lucas School of Arts, Antwerp, University of Antwerp, ARIA, in collaboration with UZ Antwerpen, UZ Leuven. Published by Garant Uitgevers.
“Digital Nature for Healthcare”, is an attempt to contribute through visual arts in a meaningful way to a sector that ultimately concerns us all: Healthcare.
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Beauty for the public mind
visual experience
As a graphic artist, my main goal is to enhance the products, services, and spaces that we interact with daily in order to improve the conditions in which we live by creating designs and illustrations to inspire others and bring them a moment of wonder.
I have always been fascinated by ‘visual beauty’: colors, shapes, compositions, tones, and patterns. Today, this aesthetic fascination has culminated in social questions.
I am convinced that our mind, as part of the human being, needs beauty and visual harmony. Sensory impressions can influence our state of mind and our wellbeing. Therefore, I would like to bring attention to the importance of visual experience in our everyday life. Design and art should be promoted as a common good and not only as an elitist experience.
Art / Tech & Health
The quality of our medical care is strongly intertwined with technological progress. New techniques, knowledge, and tools also play an essential role in the history of the arts, particularly with computers and high-tech in the field of new media art. As we live in an ‘electronic era’, technological innovations are part of our day-to-day lives. Concentrating on wellbeing in a rapidly changing world should be, in my opinion, one of our first concerns. Therefore, it is crucial to envision/imagine a future through an interdisciplinary approach, using the benefits of art and knowledge of social and medical sciences to implement technology wisely and bring new insights into healthcare.
