Maken Niks
LOT
Description
2017
video installation
BEAUTIFUL DISTRESS ART MANIFESTATION ON MENTAL ILLNESS VISUALIZES MENTAL SUFFERING IN ATTEMPT TO BREAK TABOOS
Consisting of a two-part exhibition, a manifesto and a one-day conference, the event attempts to make mental illness visible and tangible through art while countering existing prejudices. A special side program will focus on young people.
The exhibition was held at:
De School in Amsterdam-West (November 23 to December 23, 2017) and
Nieuw Dakota in Amsterdam-North (November 25 to January 14, 2018).
The Beautiful Distress Art Manifestation on Mental Illness is an initiative of the Fifth Season Foundation and the Beautiful Distress Foundation.
Art invites you to think differently
The Beautiful Distress Foundation wants to enhance the understanding of and compassion for those who deal with mental illness and has organized artist residencies in the mental health department of Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York since 2014. Beautiful Distress was inspired by a similar artist-in-residence program that the Fifth Season Foundation has organized for more than 20 years in a mental health institution in The Netherlands.
Esther Vossen, Director and Curator of the Fifth Season and the exhibition: “In both residence programs, artists are invited to live and work on location for three months. Here, they observe the world of psychiatry and allow this to inspire their work. The resulting work is original, engaging and critical. Art appeals to your senses and to your mind while encouraging you to look at the world differently, and often makes you more aware of your own judgments.”
It’s about time we talk to one another
“Our goal is to normalize psychiatric illnesses and break the taboos that surround them. Research shows that one in four people will face mental difficulties in their lifetime. In urban areas this number is one in three and growing at an alarming rate. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Nine in ten people with a mental illness feel marginalized and ostracized from society. This has a large impact on not only their lives and those around them but on society as a whole. It’s about time we talk to one another.” - Psychiatrist and Beautiful Distress Foundation Chairman, Wilco Tuinebreijer.