Nel Aerts at the University Children’s Hospital

The young patients at the University Children’s Hospital in Leuven are spending the week working on their own artworks. They are getting help from the visual artist Nel Aerts, who had an exhibition at M until the middle of March: "Art can help them to cope with their situation."

These are vulnerable children, but I want to emphasize their strength

Nel Aerts

The University Hospital in Leuven recently built a new children’s hospital, which has a special Muse Room: a place to relax but also a creative hotspot. Children can take part in workshops and even make their own art themselves. They will soon be able to take part in a four-day workshops taught by artist Nel Aerts.

Making art with sick children: where do you start?

Nel Aerts: "It is completely new to me, so I am also very curious. I hope that all the children can take part, depending on their condition of course. Some will take part on all four days, while others might only be there for an hour. I will be there every day of the week."

"There are 120 beds on the ward. One week in advance, all the patients will receive an invitation to take part. The idea is to install a kind of textiles studio. You can’t just bring whatever you want into a children’s hospital, but textiles are permitted. It is also very versatile because everyone knows it and has seen it on one context or another. I use it a lot in my own artistic practice too."

"I have intentionally not based the workshop on one of my own pieces, but rather on a basic idea and material with which I am very familiar. I am not going to give the children assignments either, they can do whatever they want. I have only chosen the fabrics – there is a certain recognizability in that. Each child will be given a piece of fabric; a kind of blanket. They can then decorate it with other pieces of fabric and pictures. There will be seamstresses there too, and they will sew the shapes onto the blankets however the children want."

‘We may also be able to sew the name of each child onto their blanket with ribbon or wool. Children who don’t have the energy to join us for the whole day will thus be able to take their own blanket back to their hospital room.’

‘On the last day, there will be a presentation moment for family members and friends. We are going to hang up all the blankets, transforming them from blankets that provide warmth and protection but fabric wall hangings, or perhaps even personal banners.’

Publiek in de Muzeruimte van het kinderziekenhuis in Leuven — © UZ Leuven

Vrouw en kind in de Muzeruimte van het kinderziekenhuis in Leuven — © UZ Leuven

De Muzeruimte van het kinderziekenhuis in Leuven — © UZ Leuven

Kind in de Muzeruimte van het kinderziekenhuis in Leuven — © UZ Leuven

This is the first time that M and Gasthuisberg are organizing a project of this kind. What do you hope the children will remember?

"I hope that when they look back at their time in hospital, they don’t only think about being sick. The artist Jeff Koons once talked about the idea of a sense of self, a feeling of self-worth that art engendered in him from a young age: ‘Since my childhood, I have developed a sense of self-worth via art. It wasn’t only a way for me to develop my own identity, but also to make connections with the outside world, with a community outside myself.’ These children are very vulnerable, and the confrontation will certainly not be easy, but I want to emphasize their strength. Of course art won’t heal them, but in the best case it will be an instrument to help them deal with their situation. If I can contribute to that I will be very happy."

The project ‘Muse and Art for the Children’s Hospital’ is an initiative of the Art for the Leuven University Children’s Hospital Foundation, in cooperation with M.

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