No one is normal at ‘museum of the mind’
The Mind’s Museum in Rome addresses myths about mental illness with participatory exhibits and interactive displays.
Overturning preconceptions about mental illness is the leitmotif of the Mind’s Museum (Museo Laboratorio della Mente) in Rome. The museum reopened this month after a high-tech overhaul by Studio Azzurro, a Milan-based art collective that works mostly with interactive and video environments.
Originally, the museum followed a more traditional line, with objects and static panel explanations. But now, the former psychiatric hospital has embraced a dynamic approach and has become more participatory.
In one interactive installation, visitors try to synchronize recorded and mirror images of themselves. In another, visitors sit for a photograph that is projected onto a board along with photos of past patients at the institution, who recount their life stories in sad, lilting taped monologues.
According to the New York Times the Mind’s Museum is a more hands-on experience than other European psychiatric museums like the Dr. Guislain Museum in Ghent, Belgium, or the Museum Het Dolhuys in Haarlem, the Netherlands. However, the latter is widely praised for its innovative and humane representation of mental illnesses, even winning a prestigious design award and attracting a lot of attention from both the media and the public.
Related posts: 40 artifacts return to Italy // Whitechapel and the web // Human rights museum promises to be both interactive and introspective // Virtual heritage exhibits and projects taking off // Next to MoMA, a Tower Will Reach for the Stars //