The healing power of museums

On 28 October, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) will host the lecture "Visual Arts and Health - Do Museums Really Make You Feel Better?". Prof. Christoph Frank, Full Professor at the USI Academy of Architecture and speaker at the event, explored the theme of the healing power of museums during the radio programme "Voci dipinte", broadcast on Rete Due (RSI).

To comprehend the potential of museums as a healing tool, it is crucial to recognise that they embody more than just aesthetic appeal. Indeed, as Professor Christoph Frank explained, "museums are first and foremost a place of mediation for both personal and historical and collective traumas".

One of the successful examples mentioned by the USI professor is Basel, which, in 1661, became home to the first public museum in Europe, which housed the Amerbach family collection. As Professor Frank pointed out, a peculiarity of the Basel Kunstmuseum is that it developed in parallel with the city's University, founded by Pope Pius II. In the city by the Rhine, therefore, known for its strong connection to medicine and - today - the pharmaceutical industry, "the development of the fine arts has been parallel to that of medicine". This case is an early example of the synergy between care and museums, already identifiable between the 16th and 17th centuries.

Professor Frank highlighted the inclusive potential of museums, emphasising their ability to foster understanding and connection across different groups of people: "Forms of artistic expression are constantly evolving, and there is a constant process of reinterpretation and appropriation of art. This also happens because artists are constantly on the move and contribute to importing and exporting artistic forms and models". Museum visits must, therefore, be "part of an educational and non-scholastic project, which is sorely needed nowadays, capable of fostering a cultural re-contextualisation that does not only concern the elite". Professor Frank emphasised the need for collaboration between universities and museums to achieve such an ambitious goal. These relationships can be complex due to the different expectations of their target audiences, but they can be highly fruitful.

In today's complex times, museums can, therefore, represent oases of health that can cast a light on the shadows of everyday life. "Museums are the creation of light, and spaces of light," Frank concluded.

The full episode of "Voci dipinte" is available at the following link. (Italian only)