In this Moment

About

Facilitated by classical music, sunlight and shadow and bespoke technologies, the show reveals some of the processes used by artists working in psychiatric settings where young people living with severe mental health conditions are encouraged to focus away from illness towards spontaneous improvisation.

The installation transforms the gallery into a quiet acoustic space arranged with soft organic shapes, floor cushions, bolsters and benches upholstered in fabrics covered in abstract artworks applied through drawing, painting, cyanotype printing and dyeing. Three soundscapes; Hexagon, Four Seasons and Dawn Chorus are presented in the form of wood sculptures that play sounds when triggered by movement, light and direct touch. A fourth, New Paths, is a digital work made over Zoom during lockdown.

For the last four years - as part of the award-winning Sound Young Minds music-making project originated by City of London Sinfonia (CLS) - artist and composer Hewitt has collaborated with classical musicians, and young people from the Schools. In the collaborations, musicians on harp, clarinet, violin, viola, double bass, cello, oboe, French horn, bassoon and other instruments drew on themes of bird song, the seasons and astronomy from CLS’ repertoire and classical pieces by Vivaldi and JS Bach. The musicians responded directly to sounds made by the young people on bespoke instruments and digital platforms produced by Hewitt, who has turned the hybrid compositions into sculptures.

Working with another group of students from the Schools in intuitive, gently exploratory and safe ways in multi-sensory environments, artist and researcher Harvey created new methods of making in the creation of the fabrics for the soft sculptural pieces, The students wore drawing and painting tools attached to their bodies, utilised sunlight to make cyanotype prints with found natural objects, and cast shadows with aluminium sculptures on folded fabric to create fractal patterns.

India Harvey is an artist and researcher whose work explores the possibilities of having multiple, distinct and complex relationships with the textures of our lived environments; their previous work includes collaborations and commissions with the South London Gallery, Tate Modern, Camden Arts Centre, Milton Keynes Art Gallery, Focal Point and the Arnolfini, as well as working as a Playworker in adventure playgrounds in London. Gawain Hewitt is an artist and composer known for combining technology with more traditional musical and artistic practices, and working collaboratively with specific communities. His commissions include installations for Wigmore Hall, City of London Sinfonia and the Royal Albert Hall, and he has permanent pieces in St Mary’s and Royal Brompton Children’s Hospitals.

In this Moment launches Bethlem Gallery’s 2022 programme exploring care in all its forms - as political action, response to injustice, as support, community or living well together – and marks 25 years since Bethlem Gallery opened in 1997, in the grounds of the Bethlem Royal Hospital in south east London. Throughout the year, artists, scientists, therapists and other practitioners will work together on sound, sculpture, video and textile works exploring ideas relating to mental health, climate change, racism, the home, and the power of music.