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Beautiful Distress was founded on the concept that there is a great deal of mental suffering, that not enough people are aware of this and that not enough is done to stop it.
The Foundation uses art in an attempt to open up the world of psychiatry and battle the stigma attached to it.
Why art? Beautiful Distress believes that art is pre-eminently capable of articulating and depicting the human condition
All I can see in this moment are my hands/fingers typing this and the tip of my nose if I cross my eyes. My so-called “legs” have disappeared under a desk. Do I even have feet? I don’t believe that they exist, but I would notice if they were cut off. If I look beyond my screen, out of the window and into the next building, one of those shadows is Nadja, standing in the institution where she is being cared for. Nadja, she embodies freedom, but only inside of her own mind; the rest of her is constricted to four pastel-colored walls. When she screams, nobody can understand her. To Nadja, we don’t even exist.
In August we were visited by Tom Finkelpearl, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner and members of his staff to call attention to Kings County’s relationship with the Beautiful Distress foundation, and our sponsorship of the Artist in Residence program. The Foundation uses art in an attempt to open up the world of psychiatry and battle the stigma attached to it. Beautiful Distress believes art is pre-eminently capable of articulating and depicting the human condition.
This autumn, Cityscapes will explore the theme ''Inner City'' in yet another building on the Marineterrein Amsterdam: 'Het Officiersverblijf' (025). Interiors, the centre of the city, subterraneous edifices, and maybe most significantly; the architecture of the psyche! Some of the most distinguished Dutch artists and architects concerned with the 'Inner City' , join forces in a multilayered and faceted exhibition, with solo, duo and group presentations on several floors of building 025.
Among the participating artists is Aldo van den Broek, who worked in the Beautiful Distress residency in Kings County Psychiatric Hospital in Brooklyn NY.
Coco Young is the current Beautiful Distress Artist in Residence in Kings County Hospital, Brooklyn. She is, after Annaleen Louwes, Aldo van den Broek and Christiaan Bastiaans, the fourth artist taking up a residency in the hospital and the first American.
Here she shares a few of her impressions and thoughts with the Beautiful Distress audience. A short Q & A.
Coco, why did you agree to take up this residency?
‘I decided to take up the challenge of this residency because my work is very much affected by the environments and situations that I find myself in. In order to talk about something with my work, I need to fully integrate myself in it, I need to live it. When I was younger I wanted to be a detective. My practice has an investigative side, I usually do a lot of research and immerse myself in a subject, almost like method acting. I’m sure you can imagine that being at Kings County has affected me heavily, and my experience of it is coming out through my work.'
British workers with depression or anxiety face a life of lower earnings, according to Equality and Human Rights Commission. People suffering from mental health problems such as depression and panic attacks earn up to 42% less than their peers, prompting the government’s equalities watchdog to brand the pay gap “a disgrace”.
Galerie Ron Mandos proudly presents FERNWEH, a solo-exhibition with the latest works by Dutch artist Aldo van den Broek (NL, 1985).
In 2015 Aldo got invited to the artist in residence ‘Beautiful Distress’ to stay four months at the psychiatric department of ‘Kings Count Hospital’, the only mental institution in New York with a government-sponsored health insurance. By living so intensively in between mostly poor and mentally ill people he got confronted with his own way of thinking, living, working and surviving. FERNWEH is Aldo’s longing for a confusing and non-existent place.
Tijdens de Amsterdam Art Fair is werk te bewonderen dat Aldo van den Broek maakte tijdens zijn artist in residence in Kings County Hospital, een psychiatriche kliniek in New York. Aldo verbleef hier vier maanden op uitnodiging van Beautiful Distress.
One of the newest and most unusual museums in the UK, Museum of the Mind, which opened only last year at Bethlem, one of the oldest mental hospitals in the world, has made the shortlist for the 2016 Museum of the Year award.
On April 12 – a well attended and received Artist Talk, with Christiaan Bastiaans, was held at the premises of Residency Unlimited. Christiaan spoke about his experiences during his three month stay as artist-in-residence in Kings County Hospital. For those who were unable to attend, a recording of the presentation and some photos can be found at the website of RU. Our thanks to Residency Unlimited for hosting this very successful event.
Interview With Artist Christiaan Bastiaans About Beautiful Distress
A couple of months ago Christiaan Bastiaans ended his artist-in-residence stay in the Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn. He was one of the six artists, four Dutch and two American, who each spent three months inside the hospital to get inspired by the patients, staff and surroundings and eventually reflect this in their artwork. Last November/December, he exhibited some of his findings in the solo exhibition 'Pharmacy Deux Milles’ at the contemporary artspace Looiersgracht 60 in Amsterdam.It’s time to take a closer look at the man behind the artwork.
When reading about the projects Christiaan Bastiaans has established over the years, you would find the term ‘Hurt Models’ quite often in relation to his work. He focuses on people who are forced against their will to find ways to survive, the alienated and displaced people of our society. In his exploration of the human condition, he has named these people Hurt Models. Christiaan Bastiaans’s work deals with existential issues, he tries to create awareness by giving the displaced, the Hurt Models, a voice. It is one of the reasons he contributed to the Beautiful Distress project. Although Christiaan Bastiaans sheds light on this group, their problems are constricted in a larger social problem. One with notions of power and control. Bastiaans asks himself the question: ‘How can art and poetic imagination facilitates those who are most vulnerable in a changing world that is dictated by power notions and market mechanisms?’ This stirs up new ideas for him as an artist, about communication and participation, in which the artist-in-residence constructed projects are a well-fitted-form. ‘Artist-in-residence projects broaden the knowledge about subject matter and groups we don't know about yet. Inspiring collaborations, I think, is the most important aspect of it. It’s so important to inspire others and get inspired, to create more understanding. These experiences will always stick with you and is the most important reason why I became an artist.’
During his time in the Kings County Hospital, Christiaan Bastiaans didn’t work closely with the clients. Instead, he wanted to explore the environment and talk to the KCH employees to gain insights. He attended staff evaluations and noted everything he found of value for the project’s development. He produced notebooks with ideas and moodboards shaped as a film/live performance plan in progress. This will result in a radioplay- and a filmscript, that in its further processing, such as working with professional actors, will be integrated in an interdisciplinary presentation. 'This material will become part of a project titled ‘Valuable Cargo’. I’ve worked on this project for the last two years and will present it sometime in 2017. The script is about a psychiatric hospital that has changed into an utopian community created by patients and staff. It has all the aspects of a science fiction thriller; when the outside world tries to take over this self-made paradise created by displaced people.’
Although Bastiaans is very passionate about his work, he doesn’t try to impose an opinion. ‘I don’t want to tell people what to do. I think that every good artwork, which is based upon well-founded ideas and thoughts, always shows a reflection of the artist’s opinion. I do want my art to move people and inspire them to think about social issues, but I have no intention in forcing something. Encourage to think freely, that’s the main reason why I create.’
THIS INTERVIEW WAS PUBLISHED EARLIER ON THE WEBSITE DUTCH CULTURE USA
On April 12 there is an artist talk with Christiaan Bastiaans at the Residency Unlimited (RU) in Brooklyn. This event is free and open to the public. Find more information, here.
Tonight’s discussion at RU will focus on Bastiaans' artistic practice within psychiatric settings and most recently his working process at Kings County Hospital Center. Fostered by the Beautiful Distress Foundation (BD) with support from RU in New York, this residency initiative aims to de-stigmatize mental illness through artistic initiative in psychiatric settings. Guest speakers will include Paul Laster (writer and critic), Wilco Tuinebreijer , founder of Beautiful Distress and Carlos Rodriguez Perez, Director of the Wellness and Recovery Division at the Behavioral Health Service, KCHC.
Tuesday April 12, 6:30pm (free and open to the public) Residency Unlimited (RU) 360 Court Street (enter church building through main entrance) Brooklyn, NY 11231
2016 started well for Beautiful Distress. A grant was awarded to Beautiful Distress by the Art of Impact Fund to create a major interactive art exhibition and conference.
The Art of Impact fund (an initiative from the Dutch Secretary of State for Culture, Education and Science, Jet Bussemaker, stimulates one-off new art projects with a clear impact on a social issue or problem.
'At the Behavioral Health Center, I produced notebooks with ideas and moodboards shaped as a film/live performance plan in progress. Furthermore, I developed a radioplay- and a filmscript, that in its further processing, such as working with professional actors, will be integrated in an interdisciplinary presentation.
"A psychiatric illness is not something you see. Because I am spending almost 24 hours a day in or around the hospital I am confronted with myself. To make art you have to look in a different or your own specific way to your situation. In the beginning I worked impulsively. I took some distance, listened to stories about people, the hospital and the G building that was broken down. I am constructing a G building that I never have seen, but which is based on all the impressions I am experiencing here…”. Aldo van den Broek
Since at least the 13th century, artists have been fascinated by insanity. There are literally hundreds of images, most stylised and stereotypic, of ‘madness’ and ‘the madman’ (or woman).
When asylums spread across 19th-century Europe, providing a captive population of mad people, artists began to use actual patients as models for their drawings and paintings. These images are often less extreme than earlier portraits, but their typically grotesque emotionality is just as dehumanising.
Wednesday June 10 6:30pm (free and open to the public) Residency Unlimited (RU) 360 Court Street (enter church building through main entrance) Brooklyn, NY 11231
Join us for this evening talk where the Dutch artist Aldo van den Broek will discuss his residency experience at Kings County Hospital Center's Behavioral Center (KCHC) as part of the Beautiful Distress (BD) program supported by RU. Fostered by the Beautiful Distress Foundation in Amsterdam, this unique residency initiative aims to de-stigmatize mental illness through artistic initiative in psychiatric settings. Guest speakers will include Wilco Tuinebreijer , founder of Beautiful Distress and Carlos Rodriguez Perez, Director of the Wellness and Recovery Division at the Behavioral Health Service, Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn.