Not the main game : art collections in hospital spaces : the Westmead experience

In Australia during the 1970s the formal setting for the display of art was no longer confi ned to offi cial art institutions. Instead signifi cant art collections were housed in a variety of public institutions, including hospitals. While hospitals are not often associated with the display of collections of art, the history of art in hospitals has been extensively documented in many western countries. In Australia, Westmead Hospital opened in 1978 and held a unique competition the Westmead Print Prize as a means of procuring original paint works for the hospital. The competition was held during a time when premier health journals including the British Medical Journal were advocating the benefi ts of displaying original art work in a hospital environment. In 2005 the authors were contacted by the management of Westmead Hospital and asked to conduct a curatorial and conservation audit of their artwork which by now included some from the original collection and others since acquired through donations, bequests and occasionally, purchases. As the authors soon discovered this was the fi rst time the artworks had been the focus of any attention since the opening of the hospital some 27 years previously. Using the Westmead Print Prize this paper examines the policies and practices put in place by hospital management to redress the situation and discusses the politics of display in hospitals. It also argues for the need for on-going, specialist involvement to best position art in hospitals, or any therapeutic space.