Exploring the value of human life through art and science collaborations

25 Sep 2019

A free film screening exploring end of life care will take place on Thursday, 26 September

SICK! Festival faces up to the complexities of mental and physical health, presenting an outstanding international arts programme, weaving in perspectives from researchers, clinical practitioners, public health professionals, charities and those with lived experience of the issues addressed. Themes are explored through many art forms – dance, theatre, film, spoken word – and through discussion and debate.  Increasingly, we encourage arts/science collaborations, as fundamental to both is the desire to employ curiosity, creativity, innovation and discovery to examine the world we live in, with (often unexpected) benefits for all.

The SICK! Festival 2019 was launched this week and Professor Mahesh Nirmalan, the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health's Vice Dean for Social Responsibility and Public Engagement spoke about the Faculty's collaboration with artist Mats Staub, exploring the question: 'What is the value of a human life?' from the perspective of end-of-life care and reflecting on his own experiences at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

The collaboration will culminate with a video installation by Mats Staub, 'Death and Birth in My Life' (18 September - 5 October at Whitworth Art Gallery), inviting audiences to listen in on a series of intimate conversations about the most moving and challenging experiences in life. Developed with staff from the Intensive Care Unit at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Mats Staub’s powerful video installation focuses on experiences of death, grief and end-of-life care. Personal stories of care and loss are shared, and ethical dilemmas confronted with honesty and warmth.

"The installation uses the power of art to initiate a wider debate on death and other pressing issues around end of life", Professor Nirmalan commented. "Death is an integral part of life. The temptation to see death as a failure of a system or an individual must be reversed."

Complementing the activity at Whitworth Art Gallery, Dr Sarah Collins and Dr Ruth Bromley are hosting a showing of ‘The Island’ by Steven Eastwood, a powerful and profound film created with first-hand accounts of hospice users on the Isle of Wight – focusing on four individuals and their lives coming to the end, filmed over the course of a year. This event will take place at Manchester Medical School on Thursday, 26 September, no booking required.