Jennifer J. Smailes Group therapy. Appropriation of therapeutic procedures in contemporary art

Contemporary art, psychotherapy, postcolonial theory, cripistemology, anti-psychiatry movement, curatorial practice

In her dissertation, Jennifer J. Smailes examines examples of contemporary artistic practice that use or appropriate (group-)therapeutic procedures. 

The methods used by the artists range from referencing somatic body work, hypnosis and talk therapy to explorations of psychiatry as an institution to the rescritping of (collective) trauma experience. They criticise gaps in Western epistemology, formulating alternative approaches that resist the disciplining of the body. 

Starting from the artistic and therapeutic traditions of the 20th century and drawing on postcolonial theory and philosophical materialism, the dissertation examines the artists’ positions for their impact as emancipatory practices. In addition to the transdiciplinary theoretical framing of the works, their specific materiality as performative, participatory or relational practice is being investigated. Smailes is particularly interested in the transfer between psychotherapy and art.

 

 

Jennifer Smailes

About this project

PhD Candidate
Jennifer J. Smailes
Disciplines

Science of art, cultural studies

Primary Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Hanne Loreck, Hochschule für bildende Künste (HFBK)

Supervisor HSLU

Prof. Dr. Rachel Mader, Hochschule Luzern – Design Film Kunst

Research Group

Postdisciplinary Art Research

Partnerships / Funding

Hochschule für bildende Künste (HFBK)

Links
LinkedIn