Visual Arts and Health - Do museums really make you feel better?

Enzo Grossi will examine the scientific evidence supporting the concept that going to the museum is good for physical and mental health. This is a new museum mission that is paving the way to designing experiences that can improve the lives of visitors, helping them to increase their well-being. By contributing to the public's well-being through a wide variety of experiences on offer, museums catalyse feelings of awe, interest, curiosity, increased understanding, a sense of belonging, a perception of physical security and serenity. The discussant will be Christoph Frank, art historian and director of the Institute for the History of Art and Architecture at USI, from the perspective of a profound knowledge of the role of art over the centuries. Luigi Di Corato will coordinate the discussion.

Save the date: Monday, 28 October 2024 at 6 pm in the Multipurpouse room, East Campus Lugano (Via La Santa, Lugano-Viganello).

Speaker: Enzo Grossi, IBSA Foundation (CH); Villa Santa Maria Foundation (IT)

Discussant: Christoph Frank, Full Professor, USI Academy of Architecture (CH)

Enzo Grossi
Coordinator of the course and member of the Advisory Board of IBSA Foundation for scientific research. Over the last 15 years, he has worked extensively in the fields of art, culture and health with a wide range of scientific publications, seminars and university courses. Since 2012, he has been Scientific Director of the ‘Villa Santa Maria’ Foundation in Tavernerio (Como) and of the Institute of the same name, a home for children and adolescents suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders. Since 2016 he has been Scientific Advisor for the Bracco Foundation, Milan. He has authored more than 500 publications listed on Google Scholar and more than 200 listed on PubMed.

Christoph Frank
A graduate in Art History and History of the Classical Tradition from the Courtauld Institute and the Warburg Institute at the University of London, he was Head of the Art History Department at the Forschungszentrum Europäische Aufklärung in Potsdam and Lehrbeauftragter at the Institute of Art History at the Technische Universität Berlin from 1994 to 2006. From 2000 to 2002 he was awarded a Max-Planck research grant at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome. In 2005, he became a scientific associate of the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris and Columbia University in New York. His latest publications address topics such as European art and architecture of the 17th and 18th century, collecting in Germany and Russia, the impact of agents and correspondents in art and architecture, and the art theory of Denis Diderot and Friedrich Melchior Grimm

Find the complete course programme here