ART AS THERAPY

The lecture will present MATAT, a Therapeutic Cultural Space. An innovative art-therapy unit, the first of its kind in Israel. Founded in 2015, the unit offers unique art-therapy programs within Ashdod Art Museum. The therapeutic encounters take place in an environment bustling with artistic and cultural activity, conducive to the development of a sense of community and belonging. Sessions include practical art workshops combined with art viewing, as well as visits to the museum’s exhibition accompanied by moderated discussions. MATAT therapists are highly skilled professionals with extensive knowledge of therapy and art.

 

MATAT places the language of art at the center. It sees a therapist as knowledgeable in art, and therefore a mediator and gateway to this world. In doing so, it expands the perception of art as a therapeutic tool to the artistic context; art history and art viewing as valuable for therapy. The works of art presented in the museum serve as a trigger that the patients can use in their creative processes and in their subsequent conversation. These expand the inner world of patients and enrich the means of verbal and emotional expression available to them.

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The museum is a safe environment for personal expression, participation in open discourse, discovering and identifying resources and strengths, developing observation and self-awareness, reduce anxiety, and resolve internal conflicts.

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The lecture will discuss the transformation of the art museum into a therapeutic platform. I will share how the idea emerged, and what implications it has on both the art world of and the art therapy field. The lecture will be accompanied by vignettes from therapeutic encounters, examples of MATAT`s activities and pictures.

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At the end of the lecture, we will hold a discussion concerning dilemmas arising from the unique way of working, and the challenges it summons. We will reflect on the place of art in the art therapy process, the role and identity of the therapist, and the broadening of the therapeutic setting.

 

Lior Schur initiated the program and was the head of MATAT, a therapeutic and cultural space at the Ashdod Art Museum. A certified art therapist (MA) from Leslie University. Lior is also an artist, lecturer and art educator. She has extensive experience in museum education, creating social programs that combine an educational-therapeutic-artistic perspective. Lior is the facilitator of training courses for art teachers and art therapists at the Ministry of Education and Sapir College. She lectured in "Interdisciplinary Tools", the biennial YAHAT conference on "The Art Museum as a Therapeutic Space" (2015), and together with Yoni Schur, directed the "You Can Choose Your Family": a long workshop at the ART AS THERAPY conference (2015). She wrote a text for the catalog and participated in a panel on "Presentation of works of patients in a public space" at the exhibition "Working Mentality" that presented works from the open studio in Abarbanel and was organized by Yael Karon and Liat Klein at the Bat Yam Museum (2017).