Les artistes engagés pour environnement. TFO Hors Québec série #24, July 2023
Vivre le Downtown Eastside, Radio Canada, October 29, 2022
Will we ever learn?: An Artist residency at the Hungarian Multicultural Center
I Just finished a 3 weeks art residency in Budapest. We lived and worked in Buda, the older section of Budapest, also the hilliest, which was welcome as it, was cooler and quieter then Pest the touristic and commercial center of the city. Our hostess and artist Beata Szechy was very welcoming and took us and the other artist Pamela Paulsrud to several openings and even to visit Lake Balaton on a weekend. As expected we ate well and drank pálinka daily. And it is true fresh Hungarian paprika is superior. Our flat was spacious and we shared several enjoyable meals in the evenings. Also great was the newly constructed pool and fitness gym near by where we took classes and swam most days in the morning. Making art was more of a challenge for mixed media artists as there was little equipment except for paints and space. So Pamela and I had to spend our first few days finding books and getting basic equipment to work with. Early on I had decided to focus on the territorial protectionism that was gripping Europe in response to the migrants from North Africa and also the promise of building border walls by the Republicans in the United States. Hungary was one of the first to take a hard line and build up their border with barbed wire. On the way here on the plane I read an article that much of this wire was made by prisoners in Hungarian jails and that some of it was also sold to other countries. I can understand Hungarian protectionism as they are a country that has suffered repeated occupations and atrocities in the last hundred years but the nature of migration has changed. The old conventions that were established for refugees following wars no longer work easily in a world where people migrate to escape poverty as well as political oppression. My parents having been refugees with me as an infant and later immigrants I have little sympathy for those who forget that North and South American nations were born from occupation that we would call today illegal invasion and the suppression and genocide of the indigenous populations. Also much of European and North American economies have survived by organized immigration and willful blindness to cheap illegal labor migrants. Having said this I also recognize that the process should be controlled, out of fairness to the migrants as well as the hosts. Will we learn …in time…that the earth does not belong to us- anywhere! -but that we belong to the earth?
So I bought a roll of barbed wire a bag of plaster, a used world atlas and several used travel guidebooks of European countries, and meters of ribbons in the color of those countries flags. With these materials I made 3 works.
Europe 2016 is composed of 9 European countries travel guidebooks transpierced and bound in barbed wire. Colorful ribbons matching their flag colors hang from the wire.
For Ket ocean kozott (between two oceans in Hungarian) I built an wall like enclosure for the travel guide book of the United States in which I carved out the Grand Canyon – the iconic great divide shaped by time and nature.
Lastly out of the pages of the world atlas I recreated a globe as it might look in 2216. I shrunk our land mass and covered it mostly with ocean. The globe is wrapped in barbed wire and ribbons hang from it arranged in a haphazard manner.
How many forts will have to be built and found in ruins until we accept their futility?
Our host is arranging for the pieces to be in an upcoming exhibition in August.
Le grand silence des professionels/ The great silence of the professionals
I just acted in a play called maladjusted which toured in 26 cities in British Columbia and Alberta. We played in small and large venues, community halls, school gyms and theaters. The audiences numbered from 50 to over 300, and everywhere the message was the same. Our mental health care system has big problems and most professionals are silent about it.
maladjusted is a participatory play produced by Theatre for Living in Vancouver, Canada and directed by David Diamond. The play explores the mechanization of mental health services and the possibility of “human-centered care.” Patients and
caregivers developed and acted in the play. Using the interactive strategies of Forum Theatre, audience members had opportunities to role-play and suggest policy, resulting in policy report that has been sent to government agencies.
Some of the main recommendations were:
Prioritize relationship building over efficient diagnosis and treatment.
Prioritize counselling and psychotherapy.
Prioritize relationship building over efficient diagnosis and treatment.
Empower patients to make choices about treatment.
Offer greater support for patients coming off of medications.
Increase access to mental health care.
Increase access to care without requiring psychiatric diagnosis.
Increase advocacy, peer and cultural support for patients.
Prioritize workplace team building and self care for mental health professionals.
Increase public housing support.
Recent economic constraints, administrative restructuring into corporate-like health care systems and the singular reliance on the categorical system of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental to organize services has resulted in criticism that the mental health care system in Canada has become mechanized
In 2013 Michel Gervais, writing to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, described how the metaphor of mechanization has become dominant in health care organizations. He draws our attention to the proliferation of bureaucratic
forms of organization that emphasize precision, speed, reliability and efficiency through increasingly fixed divisions of tasks, hierarchical supervision and detailed regulations. From the consumers’ viewpoint, this can be experienced as being treated more like a number, a diagnosis, someone that needs to fit a treatment model rather than an individual. This approach can also lead to more rigidly applied criteria for access to scarce and time limited resources with few or no
alternatives available. According to Gervais, this bureaucratic machine is doomed to fail, as it is not a viable fit for the shifting and complex nature of mental health issues.
At each performance it was noted that many professionals were aware of this failing system and were experiencing burn out. The professionals’ burn out and dissatisfaction has been documented for years. Yet health care associations remain largely silent. So why are they not reacting?
I believe there may be several reasons. In Canada the professionals (in particular doctors) are well paid. Many are silenced by the administrative structures they work in and fear loosing their jobs if they speak out.
Other professionals are like missionaries. They do not question the system and believe in it. Many do not even believe there are other options for the system.
Finally, many are not even aware that they are being influenced and bought by the powers within the system. This is particularly evident when it comes to the marketing strategies of the pharmaceutical industry.
We all have our own stories and some of us work in better conditions than others but I believe that most professionals know about the limitations of the system. We owe it to ourselves, to our profession and above all our clients to resist. Resistance is not futile. Either as individuals or as associations we need to be heard and be seen doing the right thing. If we do not, we will loose what credibility remains and our society will suffer the consequences.
The making of the play and its content is described in a published article:
Maladjusted: Participatory theater about human centered care, Arts and Health:
An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice 2015, 7:1,75-85,
The full reports on the play are available on the web site of Theater for Living website.
http://www.theatreforliving.com/present_work/maladjustedTour/reports_maladjusted.htm
The video of play is also available on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/headlinestheatre
On why the VAG needs to get dirty
The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) needs to get dirty. I don’t mean letting go of cleaning staff in a cost-cutting measure. I mean dirty in the good sense of the word: the stuff that gives us life, the stuff we stand on and build with, the messy and sexy stuff, the stuff of touch and smell, the stuff of humanity.
For me, Art is about sharing and exploring new knowledge, pursuing meaning. It is also necessary for personal and community health. It is not a coincidence that sterile environments are associated with ill health and oppressed communities.
From this stance the VAG stands out as an institution that perpetuates social inequities and an exaggerated commoditized value for art.
I recognize that it is a delicate balancing act for a contemporary public institution facing decreasing public funding and an increasing dependence on private and corporate funding—but the balance can change.
Firstly, admission to the VAG should be free and by donation at all times.
Having it free on Tuesday evenings and for children on Sunday is paradoxically stating an awareness of the inequity and yet, by these meagre offerings perpetuating it. On most days the VAG should be crawling with youth.
Second, the balance in programming needs to shift further to the local and the community.
Issues such as gender, emigration, displacement are at times addressed, but they are sanitized all too often by bringing works from other countries and artists co-opted by the art market.
The best engagement starts from the ground up. Involving the community in more of the programming might be unpredictable as far as outcomes, but it would start to bring the wall down.
Third, the focus on acquisitions and archiving should be decreased while the dissemination the already-accumulated wealth is augmented. This activity is a vestige of colonial days when museums reflected the wealth and power of the state. Acquiring more art to lay dormant in its vaults, no matter how well protected, is of no value to people in BC. Rather, lending out works and creating satellites within existing community galleries throughout the province should be a priority. On the dawn of 3D printing, the value of preserving most originals is becoming questionable.
Last, attempting neutrality is futile and misleading as all art is political at some level. The VAG should be a safe place for dialogue to occur. This may be more important today then ever before as the views opposite to the prevailing powers get insidiously submerged by capital and promises of growth and progress.
Shows that challenge and create controversy need their place. To date, resistance could be found on the outside steps of the Gallery. Will this too be lost in the new site?
The VAG has the potential to be a major player in reinstating art as a source of knowing and health in BC. It could stimulate and nurture the creative potential of all people.
But in order to do so, the VAG may have to abandon the traditional international vision of the monumental art gallery and start the process of becoming an example in getting beautifully dirty.
_____
Pierre Leichner is a Canadian artist who works in multiple media. Three-quarters of the way into his career as an academic and cinical psychiatrist, he began a career change into the arts. He is now a full time artist and teacher and travels internationally with his installations and to lecture.
©2014 Pierre Leichner
Social Isolation in the Community- an engaged art project
This is the Bulletin ArtPsy that I wrote about the socially engaged art project I participated in during my artist residency in Lille France over the past 3 months. It is still evolving as the participants are continuing to work with it.Bulletin ArtPsylF4
Bulletin ArtPsy #6 Décembre 2011
Je reviens du vernissage de mon show de la galerie Fresh A.I.R. (Artist in Recovery) à Columbus, Ohio.
(https://disabilitystudies.osu.edu/events/pierre-leichners-altered-books-project-fresh-air-gallery)
Cette galerie a le mandat de montrer les oeuvres se rapportant aux maladies mentales et aux addictions. La situation dans l’Ohio demeure difficile alors qu’une majorité de ses résidents sont sans assurance maladie.
Par ailleurs, lors de mes présentations, on m’a demandé souvent pourquoi mon changement de profession.
Dans ce dernier bulletin, je veux partager avec vous 3 suggestions.
Do the right thing! Now!
Cela m’a pris une trentaine d’année pour y arriver donc cela est plus facile à dire mais difficile à faire. Les systèmes dans lesquels nous travaillons nous habituent à penser d’une certaine façon. On arrive à accepter qu’il n’y a pas d’alternative ou encore de budgets suffisants, etc. En pratique cela peut se traduire par des pressions accrues pour voir plus de patients en moins de temps (« être plus performants »). Cela peut aussi provoquer des situations, où dans un système complexe et compartimenté, on en arrive qu’à ne produire des évaluations dans l’espoir d’aiguiller les « bons patients aux bons endroits », sans vraiment qu’il reste du temps pour les traiter ! De plus, la stigmatisation de nos patients et de nous comme soignants en santé mentale est encore répandue, et a besoin de nos efforts accrus et de nos voix confiantes.
Ma formation dans les beaux-arts m’as appris à voir plusieurs points de vue et à questionner tout système ou organisation qui ce veut dogmatique. Pour moi, lorsque j’étais en administration, cette appréciation m’aurait peut-être permis de refuser à faire partie de la fermeture de certains programmes en externes ou a l’inverse de l’ouverture de lits hospitaliers. Plus de courage et de croyances dans mes convictions m’auraient peut-être aidé.
On est de plus en plus soumis à des diktats sur la manière d’organiser son travail et sa vie personnelle pour mieux performer. Les médecins eux-mêmes agissent souvent comme s’ils étaient devenus de petites entreprises. Un essai qui peut être utile pour se confronter à cette réflexion est celui de Michel Perreault (www.michelperreault.com):
Je ne suis pas une compagnie! L’intrusion des valeurs corporatives dans notre intimité
Aux éditions Stanke (2011)
Partager ses connaissances.
« Knowledge is power. » Il m’arrive parfois encore d’hésiter à partager mes idées sur des projets avec mes collègues artistes. C’est peut-être relié à la crainte que cette idée leur apporterait le succès avant moi ! Heureusement, je me corrige. Au début de ma carrière, on m’avait enseigné à garder une double identité, particulièrement avec mes patients. Tout un discours intérieur se passe pendant les entrevues qui ne devaient pas être partagé. Heureusement, ma formation en pédagogie, les thérapies cognitives et mon implication avec des groupes de soutien ont agi de façon à me faire rapidement abandonner cette position. Comme artiste, je réagis encore une fois aux oeuvres obtuses présentées uniquement à un public informé. Pour moi les oeuvres les plus réussies peuvent engager les enfants autant que les adultes, ceux qui fréquentent les musées autant que ce qui ne suivent pas l’art contemporain. Bien qu’il y existe toujours une inégalité de pouvoir entre étudiant et professeur ou patient et docteur, le respect doit être mutuel et l’échange ouvert de l’information peut aider à diminuer ces inégalités.
Regarder, penser plus « entre » et « autour » que « par- dessus”
Ce qu’il y a de plus intéressant n’est pas nécessairement un événement en soi mais plutôt tout ce qui l’entoure. Ce n’est pas le hockey qui est le plus intéressant mais ce que le hockey fait aux gens. Beaucoup d’information se transmet par le langage du corps et par le ton de la voix. Que cela concerne la recherche ou le travail clinique, les questions et les observations les plus riches se posent autour des faits et des actions. La Revue Canadienne de Psychiatrie du mois de Septembre explore la médecine fondée sur des données probantes. Whithley et autres suggèrent le besoin de plus d’ouverture aux diverses sources de connaissances. À ce sujet je recommanderai aussi The User Illusion par Tor Norretranders Editions Viking.
Ma dernière installation TomatoesToo Go est une célébration de la force de la nature et de la beauté, même dans le grotesque, en mélangent le tout avec de l’humour comme antidote à la certitude.
Comme le philosophe Umberto Eco l’a écrit: “le diable est la foi sans sourire… pendant que la mission de ceux qui aiment l’humanité est de faire la vérité rire.”
Meilleurs voeux pour la nouvelle année!
ArtPsy #5
These newsletters were sent to psychiatry residents at the University of Montreal as part of my artist residency in that department.
Bulletin ArtPsy #5 Septembre 2011
Et voilà l’automne arrive comme d’habitude.
Ce mois-ci j’ai participé a un symposium sur l’art environnemental.
Et j’ai décidé de ne plus utiliser les mots Nature et Sauvage ou Feral
dans le contexte de notre planète.
Je crois que ces mots se sont vidés de leurs significations pendant le dernier siècle. Il n’y a plus d’espace, de lieux sur notre planète qui n’est pas touchée ou influencée par notre invasion même si cela n’est qu’à travers des polluants et des déchets.
Je pense aussi que ces mots établissent une fausse dichotomie qui date d’une époque romantique et qui continue dans la façon de voir tout ce qui est naturel même sauvage comme beau et tout fait part la main de l’homme comme moins bien.
En fait, je suis nature ou naturel, je suis sauvage, feral (j’aime manger la chair morte d’autres animaux) et je suis un envahisseur. Accepter ces mots descriptifs me force à prendre responsabilité dans ma relation avec mon environnement et à m’arrêter de dichotomiser les problèmes.
Bien sûr, je peux être plus ou moins sauvage, bon ou méchant, passif ou activiste, égoïste ou humble, etc. Mais tous mes gestes ont un impact sur mon environnement quotidien.
Et le mystère et la beauté de la planète se trouvent autant devant ma porte en ville, dans une conversation avec un patient que sur le pic d’une montagne ou le creux de la forêt.
Si ces idées vous intéressent, je vous invite à lire les articles de Gilles Clément dans son site.
http://www.gillesclement.com/
Ce mois-ci fut aussi l’ouverture du show Art I (s)Land sur Granville Island à Vancouver.
http://www.vancouverfringe.com/art-is-land/
J’ai aussi participé avec 7 autres artistes de notre collectif Art is Land Network
http://artislandnetwork.com/
Mon installation s’est appelé Connected . J’ai rejoint des arbres sur 2 pentes par des canaux de sables colorés. L’île de Granville étais un banc de sable avant qu’elle soit transformée en zones industrielles. Ces connections pourrait ressembler aussi des axons de neurones que seraient les arbres.
*Connected*
We all live in an enclosed garden.
All life is interconnected.
Each one of our actions has an effect, small or large, sooner or later within this garden.
As Gilles Clément wrote:
“Une feuille tombée au sol n’est pas une souillure, c’est une nourriture.”
“A leaf fallen to the ground is not garbage, it is food.”
En conclusion :
Je vous encourage tous à aller passer une agréable journée à St Hilaire du 12 au 16 octobre
(http://www.ville.mont-saint-hilaire.qc.ca/site/pages/Culture/Land-art.aspx)
pour voir les nouvelles créations des artistes de cette année
et de dire bonjour à Nicole Dextras de Vancouver et membre de notre collectif AILN.
ARTPsy #4
These newsletters were sent to psychiatry residents at the University of Montreal as part of my artist residency in that department.
Bulletin ArtPsy #4 Juillet, 2011
Bonjour
Le temps court rapidement depuis notre rencontre et notre DSM collage.
J espère que vous avez un bel été. Ici il ne semble pas encore être arriver.
Il fait plutôt frais ce qui n’est pas très bon pour mon installation Jardin biologique #9
Potager de résistance au Means of Production Gardens (http://moparrc.wordpress.com/annual-residency-garden-bed/).
Mon alter ego Dr Légumes, un chirurgien plastic pour légumes et fruits vient d’afficher
son épisode Humane Ratatouille sur You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6SKV1GmmcU). La recette est bonne et sensitive
Cette semaine, j’ai participé aux activités de la Gallery Gachet dans le contexte de la semaine Mad Pride 2011. International Mad Pride Day a été créer en 1070 par des activistes psychiatriques. Le thème cette année a été Modes of Recovery.
Cela m’a fait réfléchir que ce mot ou même cette idée ne faisait pas de mon vocabulaire
professionnel quand j’ai été forme pendant les années 70. Est ce que cela était moins possible alors? Peut-être, car le système des services et de recherche de santé mentale des années 50 et 60 dépendait de l’idée que les personnes atteintes de maladies mentales graves ne pourraient jamais sent sortir avec ou sans médicaments. Cela n’ait que depuis une vingtaine d’années que l’on en entend parler plus en plus. Peut-être les mouvements d’entre aide et activistes et la recherché qualitative on eut leur part à jouer. Je crois qu’il n’y a pas encore assez de recherche dans ce domaine ainsi que sur l’effet placebo. On as de mal à donner de l’attention à des phénomènes qui nous rendrait superflus professionnellement.
Lors du mois de juillet, à deux reprises les comédiens du Stand up for Mental Health.
ont performer. Ils parlent et blaguent de leurs expériences avec courage, sagesse et humour.
Encore un phenomene inconnu pendant les années 50 a 90. Un sens d’humour au lieu d’une certaine honte ou discrétion aurait été considéré comme défense psychologique ou état d’hypomanie. Je vous encourage à regarder des segments sur vidéo.
(http://www.standupformentalhealth.com/videoclips.shtml)
Amicalement
Pierre Leichner