Vital Arts worked with Robin Klassnik, OBE to guest-curate a collection of artworks for permanent display in the On-Call Rooms at Whipps Cross Hospital. The suite of fourteen bedrooms, used by medics working overnight, now each benefit from the inclusion of an exceptional artwork. This project is part of Vital Arts‘ ongoing support of clinical colleagues at Barts Health NHS Trust.
Working closely with Vital Arts, Klassnik developed a strategy that responds to the aim of providing interest and focus to these rooms, occupied by hardworking clinical staff. Klassnik selected a wide range of works by thirteen artists, combining previously existing works with some created especially for the project.
Klassnik is the Director and Founder of the non-profit contemporary art organisation Matt’s Gallery, which began in his artist’s studio in 1979. He graduated in Painting from Leicester College of Art in 1968 and has lived locally for 40 years and Whipps Cross is his local hospital.
The works selected for Whipps Cross include prints, photographs, collages and watercolours by contemporary artists, many of whom have shown at Matt’s Gallery over the years. The Gallery has a longstanding reputation as a pioneer of installation art, often working at large scale with new media to develop works that have gone on to attract Turner Prize nominations and become part of national collections.
Full list of artists: David Batchelor, Catriona Clayson, Fiona Crisp, Layla Curtis, Graham Fagen, Emma Hart, Matthew Krishanu, Rebecca Lennon, Peter Liversidge, Milly Peck, Alison Turnbull and Roy Voss.
About
Vital Arts is the arts organisation for Barts Health NHS Trust, the largest Trust in the UK. We are charitably funded to deliver art projects that enhance the hospital environment and, in turn, improve the patient experience. With five hospitals in east London—The Royal London, St Bartholomew’s (Barts), Mile End, Whipps Cross and Newham University Hospital–and over 2.5 million patients, we see these important civic areas as ideal places to introduce new audiences to contemporary art.
We offer patients, staff and visitors meaningful cultural encounters which they might not otherwise access. This engagement frequently proves inspiring and mind-opening, thus making time spent in hospital more positive.
Founded in 1996, Vital Arts has grown into one of the UK’s leading Arts and Health organisations. It has developed an international reputation for producing ambitious and award-winning projects, and pioneering arts programmes that encourage interaction with contemporary art, support wellbeing and transform the clinical experience.
Vital Arts works in partnership with medical staff, artists and other cultural organisations to devise and deliver a multi strand programme that includes music, dance, literature, craft workshops, artist-in-residencies, exhibitions as well as site-specific commissioned artworks. These projects help create a stimulating and uplifting environment for the wellbeing of patients, staff and the wider hospital community.
Robin Klassnik founded Matt’s Gallery in his East London studio in 1979. Since then it has supported the making of new and innovative work. During this time, it has been an independent and influential force in the visual arts sector, both nationally and internationally, championing the careers of artists such as Willie Doherty, Jimmie Durham, Susan Hiller, Mike Nelson, Lindsay Seers, Imogen Stidworthy and Richard Wilson.
Matt’s Gallery exists to give artists the time, space and support they need to take risks, test their limits and surprise even their own intentions.
In 2014, Klassnik was awarded an OBE in recognition of his contribution to contemporary art. In April 2022 Matt’s Gallery opened its new space in Nine Elms, South West London. mattsgallery.org
