Mindscapes
Mindscapes
Mindscapes

Mindscapes was a collaborative inquiry. Danielle Olsen from the Wellcome Trust led the project, supported by the curatorial research fellows based in the core Mindscapes cities: Bengaluru, Berlin, New York and Tokyo. The curatorial research fellows liaised with local players from policy, culture, research and advocacy around Mindscapes, and developed programmes and exhibitions in the respective cities. Beyond the curatorial team, the project involved different commissions in cultural production in the fields of contemporary art, design, film, literature, and music. You can see portraits of the protagonists of Mindscapes below.

CURATORIAL RESEARCH FELLOWS

In each of the Mindscapes cities, the curatorial research fellows worked across policy, culture, research and advocacy around Mindscapes: In Bengaluru, Rohan Patankar, design researcher and strategist with a background in architecture and urbanism, from the interdisciplinary consultancy Quicksand. In Berlin, Margareta von Oswald, curator and anthropologist, based at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In New York, Rebecca Hayes Jacobs, curator, cultural producer and ethnographer based at the CUNY’s Centre for the Humanities. In Tokyo, NOBORI Kukiko, anthropologist based at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, and KIKUCHI Hiroko, artist and co-founder of inVisible.

INDU ANTONY

Indu Antony is an artist who previously trained in medicine, often working with communities to express the inequalities of gender, class and caste. During her Mindscapes Bengaluru residency at MAP, Indu worked with a network of community centres and opened a new space called Namma Katte – a space for leisure, a space for women to exchange stories of care and mental health. These stories will inform a collective artwork. Indu Antony is an artist who previously trained in medicine, often working with communities to express the inequalities of gender, class and caste.

KADER ATTIA

Kader is a French-Algerian artist and theorist whose previous sculptural, visual and theoretical works are inspired by the question of the visibility and invisibility of the wound. During his Mindscapes Berlin residency at Gropius Bau, Kader continued his research into repair, exploring the immaterial wounds that haunt German society. Kader is a French-Algerian artist and theorist whose previous sculptural, visual and theoretical works are inspired by the question of the visibility and invisibility of the wound.

GUADALUPE MARAVILLA

During his Mindscapes New York residency at Brooklyn Museum, Guadalupe Maravilla continued his exploration of healing from displacement and generational trauma, and the intimate links between bodily and mental health. Guadalupe draws from his personal experience as a cancer survivor and from his displacement – due to the 1984 civil war in El Salvador – to the United States to shape his multidisciplinary practice of sculpture, performance, video, and ritual. For Mindscapes, Guadalupe’s exhibition Guadalupe Maravilla: Tierra Blanca Joven at the Brooklyn Museum addressed these themes of displacement and healing across generations through his large-scale sculptures, items from the museum's Mayan collection, and video of a workshop with undocumented teens in detention, as well as a Healing Room designed by teens involved in the Museum's work-study program.

ELLEN REID: SOUNDWALK

Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, SOUNDWALK is a GPS-enabled work of public art that uses music to illuminate walks around parks, encouraging calm reflection. After downloading the free app to their phone and putting on their headphones, participants explore a local park, triggering different music that has been carefully crafted to harmonise with the park’s natural environment and attraction. Designed as part of Mindscapes during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK premiered in New York's Central Park, aiming to get people safely out of the house and into green space, and to encourage self-care, mindfulness, wellbeing and joyful artistic connection.

YUKI IIYAMA

Yuki Iiyama is a visual artist who works primarily with video and other forms of archival, audio-visual materials. Utilising interviews and personal testimony, she examines power dynamics between individuals, society and history as well as processes such as stigmatization. During her Mindscapes Tokyo residency at Mori Art Museum, Yuki worked with affected communities to explore the social and emotional impact of domestic violence in Japan. Based between Tokyo and Kanagawa, Yuki Iiyama is a visual artist who works primarily with video and other forms of archival, audio-visual materials. Utilising interviews and personal testimony, she examines power dynamics between individuals, society and history as well as processes such as stigmatization.

CECILIE WAAGNER FALKENSTROM

Within her regular practice, Cecilie often employs artificial intelligence (machine learning) to create artworks, that critically reflect upon our human entanglement with technology. During her Mindscapes International residency, Cecilie’s work has explored the history of industrialised labour practices and their connection with contemporary digital data labour as both pertain to the mental health of workers. Within her regular practice, Cecilie often employs artificial intelligence (machine learning) to create artworks, that critically reflect upon our human entanglement with technology.

PRIYA BASIL

During her residency, Mindscapes Writer in Residence Priya Basil has been travelling internationally to places where biomedical and traditional approaches to mental health meet, gathering reflections for an Atlas of Mental Health. In her writing Priya will use personal stories to deepen the narrative and show how she is situated in relation to the rich themes and concepts she engages in her writing.

CHRISTINE WONG YAP

During her residency, Mindscapes Artist-in-Residence at Large Christine Wong Yap has been engaging with communities across the globe – including teenagers in Bengaluru and New York, library patrons in Berlin and senior citizens outside of Tokyo – to develop zines (self-published magazines) which reflect their perspectives on belonging.

Mindscapes was a collaborative inquiry. Danielle Olsen from the Wellcome Trust led the project, supported by the curatorial research fellows based in the core Mindscapes cities: Bengaluru, Berlin, New York and Tokyo. The curatorial research fellows liaised with local players from policy, culture, research and advocacy around Mindscapes, and developed programmes and exhibitions in the respective cities. Beyond the curatorial team, the project involved different commissions in cultural production in the fields of contemporary art, design, film, literature, and music. You can see portraits of the protagonists of Mindscapes below.

CURATORIAL RESEARCH FELLOWS

In each of the Mindscapes cities, the curatorial research fellows worked across policy, culture, research and advocacy around Mindscapes: In Bengaluru, Rohan Patankar, design researcher and strategist with a background in architecture and urbanism, from the interdisciplinary consultancy Quicksand. In Berlin, Margareta von Oswald, curator and anthropologist, based at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In New York, Rebecca Hayes Jacobs, curator, cultural producer and ethnographer based at the CUNY’s Centre for the Humanities. In Tokyo, NOBORI Kukiko, anthropologist based at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, and KIKUCHI Hiroko, artist and co-founder of inVisible.

INDU ANTONY

Indu Antony is an artist who previously trained in medicine, often working with communities to express the inequalities of gender, class and caste. During her Mindscapes Bengaluru residency at MAP, Indu worked with a network of community centres and opened a new space called Namma Katte – a space for leisure, a space for women to exchange stories of care and mental health. These stories will inform a collective artwork. Indu Antony is an artist who previously trained in medicine, often working with communities to express the inequalities of gender, class and caste.

KADER ATTIA

Kader is a French-Algerian artist and theorist whose previous sculptural, visual and theoretical works are inspired by the question of the visibility and invisibility of the wound. During his Mindscapes Berlin residency at Gropius Bau, Kader continued his research into repair, exploring the immaterial wounds that haunt German society. Kader is a French-Algerian artist and theorist whose previous sculptural, visual and theoretical works are inspired by the question of the visibility and invisibility of the wound.

GUADALUPE MARAVILLA

During his Mindscapes New York residency at Brooklyn Museum, Guadalupe Maravilla continued his exploration of healing from displacement and generational trauma, and the intimate links between bodily and mental health. Guadalupe draws from his personal experience as a cancer survivor and from his displacement – due to the 1984 civil war in El Salvador – to the United States to shape his multidisciplinary practice of sculpture, performance, video, and ritual. For Mindscapes, Guadalupe’s exhibition Guadalupe Maravilla: Tierra Blanca Joven at the Brooklyn Museum addressed these themes of displacement and healing across generations through his large-scale sculptures, items from the museum's Mayan collection, and video of a workshop with undocumented teens in detention, as well as a Healing Room designed by teens involved in the Museum's work-study program.

ELLEN REID: SOUNDWALK

Created by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, SOUNDWALK is a GPS-enabled work of public art that uses music to illuminate walks around parks, encouraging calm reflection. After downloading the free app to their phone and putting on their headphones, participants explore a local park, triggering different music that has been carefully crafted to harmonise with the park’s natural environment and attraction. Designed as part of Mindscapes during the Covid-19 pandemic, Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK premiered in New York's Central Park, aiming to get people safely out of the house and into green space, and to encourage self-care, mindfulness, wellbeing and joyful artistic connection.

YUKI IIYAMA

Yuki Iiyama is a visual artist who works primarily with video and other forms of archival, audio-visual materials. Utilising interviews and personal testimony, she examines power dynamics between individuals, society and history as well as processes such as stigmatization. During her Mindscapes Tokyo residency at Mori Art Museum, Yuki worked with affected communities to explore the social and emotional impact of domestic violence in Japan. Based between Tokyo and Kanagawa, Yuki Iiyama is a visual artist who works primarily with video and other forms of archival, audio-visual materials. Utilising interviews and personal testimony, she examines power dynamics between individuals, society and history as well as processes such as stigmatization.

CECILIE WAAGNER FALKENSTROM

Within her regular practice, Cecilie often employs artificial intelligence (machine learning) to create artworks, that critically reflect upon our human entanglement with technology. During her Mindscapes International residency, Cecilie’s work has explored the history of industrialised labour practices and their connection with contemporary digital data labour as both pertain to the mental health of workers. Within her regular practice, Cecilie often employs artificial intelligence (machine learning) to create artworks, that critically reflect upon our human entanglement with technology.

PRIYA BASIL

During her residency, Mindscapes Writer in Residence Priya Basil has been travelling internationally to places where biomedical and traditional approaches to mental health meet, gathering reflections for an Atlas of Mental Health. In her writing Priya will use personal stories to deepen the narrative and show how she is situated in relation to the rich themes and concepts she engages in her writing.

CHRISTINE WONG YAP

During her residency, Mindscapes Artist-in-Residence at Large Christine Wong Yap has been engaging with communities across the globe – including teenagers in Bengaluru and New York, library patrons in Berlin and senior citizens outside of Tokyo – to develop zines (self-published magazines) which reflect their perspectives on belonging.