03/01/2024

Why Some Doctors are Giving "Museum Prescriptions"

This trend is catching on in Europe

Tucked in the back of the Palais de Tokyo, a sweeping modern art museum in Paris, is a large studio. Called Le Hamo, like the French word for hamlet, it is just like its homophone – cozy and inviting. Wormlike ceramic shelving shows off amateur artwork: rust-colored clay figurines and sculptures made of old batteries, cardboard, and toothpicks.

Since September, small groups have come to the studio for art workshops, often in conjunction with visits to the museum. Today, four young people diagnosed with autism have just come from “Infinite Vessel,” by Algerian artist Dalila Dalléas Bouzar, next door.

Resident cultural mediator Lorraine Suty spreads a black cloth on the floor and hands out bits of white string, encouraging the group to re-create the artwork. A teenager in a mauve sweatshirt loops the string into squiggly lines, placing colorful cotton balls around the edges. Although he is nonverbal, a wide smile crisscrosses his face – just like it did during his encounter with the original piece.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Christian Science Monitor.