MULTI-SENSORY DESIGN AND DISTRACTION
Alex Hamilton, Lead Artist
Oli Mival, UX Research & Design
Derek Kemp, Audio Visual Consultant
Helen Fisher, Communications Consultant
Yulia Kovanova, Curator
Film makers: Nim Jethwa, Jack Lockhart, Kris Kubik, Tracey Fearnehough and Holger Mohaupt Tony Kimera, Occupational Therapist
Client: Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd. and NHS Lothian
Funded by: NHS Lothian Charity’s Tonic Arts Programme
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity
Alex Hamilton and Dr Oli Mival developed a projection system for forty-six treatment rooms throughout the hospital, which provides a programme of selected short films and projections to support and distract whilst patients are undergoing tests, examinations or procedures.
The film content was selected in three different ways. Firstly through an open submission opportunity whereby artists and filmmakers were invited to submit an existing short film or moving image work for inclusion in the film library. For the second strand of film library content, Matt Lloyd, Director of Glasgow Short Film Festival (GSFF), selected a series of short animations from GSFF’s Family Animation Programme, while Adam Castle, Curator, ran an open call for film submissions for the film library through Edinburgh Artist Moving Image Festival networks. Thirdly, a selection of films were commissioned from five artists around themes of nature, animation, abstraction, animals and people.
“A lot of our initial consideration about this project came from the existing Secret Garden programme. This was a very early use of this technology and we were excited to develop the Multi-Sensory Design and Distraction programme as the next step in the cutting-edge future for these therapeutic techniques. It also meant that a lot of staff were immediately involved and on board as they had confidence in the technology and were excited to explore and help us push the boundaries to give the best patient experience possible. The Therapists and Support Staff were incredibly generous with their expertise about what would be beneficial for all the variety of patients, their needs and particular challenges." - Alex Hamilton, Lead Artist on Multi-Sensory Design.
The team also developed a projection and digital interface for three therapy rooms working closely with OT staff as part of the patient rehabilitation process.
