Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth Continue Partnership Through A Series Of Compelling Initiatives and Exhibitions

This year, Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth will continue their partnership through a series of initiatives that continue to expand Hospital Rooms’ impact, including:

• A major exhibition, ‘Holding Space’ at Hauser & Wirth, featuring artist Supata Biswas and many others, 17 August-12 September 2023
• The Hold Me Auction at Bonhams, New Bond Street, 12 September 2023
• An open-air exhibition at Granary Square, King’s Cross for World Mental Health Day, featuring artists, Hurvin Anderson, Yinka Ilori, Alvin Kofi, 10 October 2023

These initiatives will raise funds to support three ambitious new projects which will transform NHS mental health settings across the UK including:

• Sandwell Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Black Country
  ​Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
• Rivers Centre Acute Units at Hellesdon Hospital,
  ​Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust
• Bodmin and Redruth Hospitals,
  ​Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust

Following a successful first year of collaboration, raising £325,000, this year Hospital Rooms will be raising funds to work with staff and patients at Sandwell CAMHS, part of the Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. This ambitious project will empower young people to collaborate with extraordinary artists and contribute to the physical transformation of their environments. Referrals for children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) have drastically increased since 2019, leaving young people and families in urgent need of therapeutic support. Raising these funds will ensure that young people receive support, treatment and therapy in inspirational spaces that offer them hope and dignity.

Nicky Mountford, service manager and clinical lead for Sandwell CAMHS at Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“This partnership shows the importance of our Trust working with partner organisations to carry out exciting, innovative work in the field of mental health care. I can’t wait for this ground-breaking project to get started and look forward to seeing what our young people create with the Hospital Rooms team.”

Neil Wenman, Partner, Hauser & Wirth:

“As long-time supporters of Hospital Rooms, we have witnessed first-hand the extraordinary impact of their work in changing lives across NHS mental health inpatient units across the country. Embarking on our second year of a three year partnership, I am thrilled to champion another programme of activities and fundraising that we know will help bring hope and courage, especially to young people in mental health services in the UK.”

Tim A Shaw, Co-Founder, Hospital Rooms:

“Since first coming up with the idea of Hospital Rooms, we have believed that every person in a mental health unit deserves to experience extraordinary artwork, and to have the freedom to express themselves. The projects we have planned for the next year, taking place in Norwich, Sandwell and Cornwall will mean that we will be collaborating with more artists, NHS staff and mental health service users, than ever before. In partnership with Hauser & Wirth, we will be able to draw attention to the work of Hospital Rooms, address the challenges of rethinking the way mental health units look and feel, and bring about drastic change, transforming what can often be clinical environments into spaces that provide joy and dignity, stimulate and heal.”

The new Rivers Acute Units at Hellesdon Hospital is a landmark project for Hospital Rooms. Project Curators from Hospital Rooms will be working from the design stage with architects to embed creativity and culture across 6 adult wards, entrances, outdoor and communal areas with the hospital opening in 2024.

Hospital Rooms will also be working with Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust across two mental health hospitals in Bodmin and Redruth. These services comprise of Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit, Acute, Rehabilitation and Low secure units for older people. This project will transform these mental health settings and build long term local creative connection with the hospitals.

This summer, Hospital Rooms collaborative projects will culminate in a major exhibition which will be on view at Hauser & Wirth in London 17 August – 12 September.

‘Holding Space’ will feature a recreation of Sutapa Biswas’ immersive artwork for Springfield Hospital and a new composition created by students from the South West London Recovery College and the National Opera Studio. The exhibition will transform the gallery into a sensory holding space, filling the gallery with beds and cushions for people to sit, rest and play on.

Following the exhibition, Hospital Rooms will host the ‘Hold Me Auction’ at Bonhams in London on the 12 September 2023. Acclaimed artists have donated canvases that respond to the notion of a holding space to raise funds for Hospital Rooms three new projects. Hospital Rooms will also be hosting an open-air exhibition at Granary Square, Kings Cross, to coincide with World Mental Health Day, on 10th October 2023. The exhibition will showcase new co-produced artworks and environments for mental health hospitals by Hurvin Anderson, Yinka Ilori, Alvin Kofi and many others.

©2023 Hospital Rooms, Hauser & Wirth