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This deep dive presents materials from IMAGINE workshops with two student groups attending the Interdisciplinary workplace learning program TVEPS at the University of Bergen (UiB) and the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL).
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This deeply personal and existential question lies at the heart of IMAGINE, a community arts-based research project led by Wolfgang Schmid and Maren Metell at the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen.
Being asked about life-threatening illness, death and grief can evoke strong emotions. It may remind us of our own experiences, the scope of support we received, and the ways we have learned to live with these life changing conditions. Thus, how we respond to loss and grief intimately corresponds with our attitude to life, the values we hold, our capacity and willingness to act and to co-create the lives we wish to live.
In IMAGINE, we explore these themes in small groups of people through engagement with artistic materials and processes. In carefully curated workshops we combine creative activities with open conversations, performances and reflective dialogue, in a safe and supportive environment. Participants are invited to draw, make music or poetry, share stories, envision, explore and express their thoughts and feelings about care, both for themselves and for others.
IMAGINE forwards the idea of ‘care as a common’, understanding care as a shared creative resource, a means of action, and a collective responsibility. ‘Care as a common’ embraces the people, spaces, and practices involved. Workshop participants envision alternative ways of how care can be understand and practiced. By framing care as a common good, the project forwards new approaches to co-existence, intergenerational solidarity, and well-being, re-thinking and co-developing the conditions for more inclusive and compassionate ways of living.
IMAGINE encourages to consider care beyond medical treatment provided by specialists in institutions. It invites to conceptualize care as a shared human capacity, throughout a lifespan and across generations, gender, conditions and background. The workshops are open to anyone who wishes to take part. They can be flexibly adapted to suit different audiences, settings, and timeframes.
As an example for IMAGINE work, we present material from two interdisciplinary student groups from the fields of health care and social science, participating in the TVEPS-interdisciplinary workplace learning program at UiB and HVL.
Group work in progress: From an IMAGINE workshop with TVEPS students. Photo: Wolfgang Schmid
TVEPS trains master students from various study programs at the University of Bergen and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences in interprofessional collaboration. Students from medicine, pedagogy, psychology, physiotherapy, music therapy, nursing science, occupational therapy and dentistry, work together in groups of four to six, forming interdisciplinary teams. These teams are placed in nursing homes, hospitals, home care services, or kindergartens, where they complete a shared assignment—either delivering a pedagogical presentation or conducting a patient/client assessment.
In the IMAGINE workshops, TVEPS students engaged with the deeply personal question “How would you like to care for and be cared for at the end of life”? They reflect on this question from a first-person perspective, joining an experiential and exploratory peer-based learning process.