
This day-long Symposium concluded PS/Y’s combined arts programme Hysteria, in partnership with our Hysteria – Contested, Popularised, Diagnosed series of dialogical and creative events at The Dragon Cafe.
We brought together clinicians, arts practitioners and people with lived experience to explore the relationship between hysteria and contemporary arts practice, examining the place of artistic and scientific collaborations within mental health services and concluding with a Shrink Radio plenary discussion.
Speakers included: PS/Y collaborators Dr Stephanie Courtade (psychiatrist) and Jocelyn Pook (artist and composer); Dr Errol Francis (PS/Y director); Dr Dominik Havsteen-Franklin (Consultant in Arts Psychotherapies, CNWL NHS Foundation Trust); Mette Kjærgaard Præst (curator PS/Y and Hysteria programme); Prof Sashi Sashidaran (consultant psychiatrist and Director of Mental Health Rights, Glasgow); Prof Victoria Tischler (Professor of Arts and Health, Head of the Dementia Care Centre, University of West London), RE:CREATE Psychiatry, and The Dragon Café Singers.
PS/Y’s Hysteria programme explored gender, race and cultural identity in mental health and society. Curated by Mette Kjærgaard Præst, the programme was delivered in partnership with organisations and cultural institutions across London between August 2017 and April 2018.
PS/Y is a research, curating and public engagement group exploring the interface of arts and health sciences. PS/Y develops interdisciplinary projects with artists, scientists, arts organisations, institutions and communities, aiming to create new insights into the relationship between mind and body in Western culture.