Psychologists at the University of Liverpool and Liverpool based media arts centre FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) are collaborating with artist `the vacuum cleaner’ (Jamie Leadbitter) on his creation of the interactive art installation Madlove, which reimagines a psychiatric hospital.
Madlove is a new participatory installation and event series created by the vacuum cleaner in collaboration with FACT and Professor Peter Kinderman, Head of the Institute of Psychology, Health and Society at the University of Liverpool and BPS Associate Fellow.
As part of the research and development process for this art project, ‘the vacuum cleaner’ is holding workshops throughout the UK with patients and professionals from the health and psychology sectors, as well as members of the general public.
The accumulated ideas and knowledge will be used to develop a blueprint for a creation of a temporary psychiatric hospital at FACT in spring 2015 that will be open to the public as part of its Group Therapy exhibition.
Professor Kinderman said: “We are extremely pleased to have received this BPS grant to help facilitate this opportunity for an arts and science collaboration. We hope that involving the public in the creation of a dynamic designer asylum they can actually visit and engage with will encourage people to consider current perceptions of mental health.”
The exhibition is supported by a 2014 public engagement grant by the British Psychological Society which makes grants to help its members promote the relevance of evidence-based psychology to wider audiences, either through direct work or by organising special activities.