Rethinking Mental Health from Artistic and Cultural Perspectives and Practices

DOI

Bibliographic Information

Other Title
  • アート・文化的な視点と実践からメンタルヘルスを問い直す
  • Through the Case of Mindscapes
  • マインドスケープスの事例を通じて

Abstract

NPO inVisible is a not-for-profit organization that aims to use art as a catalyst to make visible, not only tangible but also invisible values that are hidden within the society. It is essential to recognize that art exists in everyday life; furthermore, it is also vital to create projects while breaking down preconceived notions through an attitude of planning by using art as a catalyst. But since we try to understand each other because we cannot understand each other in the first place, respect for differences and individuality and community engagement are essential points in our activities.  This not-for-profit organization consists of three project components: the Laboratory Project (the Lab), the Intermediary Support Project (the Interim), and Other Related Project (the Other). The Lab, similar to an investment business model, identifies potential issues in cities and regions and develops appropriate projects to address those issues. The Interim is set up to propose projects aiming to solve problems and is equipped to implement and evaluate their implementations. Mindscapes Tokyo falls under this category.  Mindscapes Tokyo is a project of the UK-based foundation, Wellcome Trust and inVisible. When it is said one in four people in the world experience mental health problems, mental health has become a common issue among us in the modern era. This project challenges exactly that. Mental health is often thought of as the domain of medical professionals. However, Only Science cannot solve this common problem. It is essential to galvanize professionals from various fields and creative minds such as artists, writers, curators, designers, and filmmakers to learn from each other and cooperate. For this reason, people with diverse backgrounds are set up to participate in Mindscapes Tokyo.  The term mental health itself needs to be reexamined from the root of its origin. It is because when people are exposed to the term mental health, they may perceive it differently depending on their backgrounds. Moreover, for this project, each participant comes with uniquely different experiences from one another. While embracing the differences, once again, both breaking out of convention and redefining mental health from an art and cultural point of view is crucial. It is important to remind ourselves how difficult it is to talk without fostering trust.  Convening is a place that cherishes exchanging conversations with art/cultural perspectives; in other words, it is a dialogue-based gathering in Mindscapes Tokyo. It is an effort to rethink what mental health is through several interactive congregations with participants from various backgrounds. Therefore, one of the characteristics of the Convening is to welcome and include outsiders' voices.  Urban Investigation Project, led by teams of investigators (artists) and youth investigators (high school students), is an exploratory endeavor to formulate ideas. The project also considers works created here as tools to trigger to think further about mental health.  And then, Keywords for rethinking mental health consist of Japan's high context culture, origin+ interpretation of Japanese words, culture of shame, breaking down preconceived notions: learning together and learning again, and Zattkan (miscellaneous thoughts). Especially in an occasion like Convening, it is to be tempted to quickly draw conclusions. However, for example, the words mental health is a terminology that can be interpreted differently by different people, and one should never impose their interpretation on others. Therefore, it is important for participants to share their thoughts and feelings, not as conclusions, but to embrace them as something that has come to their mind for the moment. In this case, our efforts to date have revealed that utilizing the term Zattkan (miscellaneous impressions) and communicating to others through miscellaneous thoughts and impressions are very effective.

Journal

  • Science of "Ba"

    Science of "Ba" 2 (3), 4-62, 2023-01-31

    Japan Association for Sustainability based on Co-innovation & Competition

Keywords

Details 詳細情報について

  • CRID
    1390295336745911424
  • DOI
    10.50991/jasccorg.2.3_4
  • ISSN
    24343766
  • Text Lang
    ja
  • Data Source
    • JaLC
  • Abstract License Flag
    Disallowed

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