Manchester Art Gallery
In a Manchester art gallery, a quiet room with just three paintings is sparking a mental health movement aimed at reclaiming our lost attention span.
There’s a small dark green room in the Manchester Art Gallery, right next to a gallery full of LS Lowry dolls and factory buildings. While people walk back and forth in the bright space, as busy as the artist’s workers outside the city’s factories, in the dark green room they slow down. They sit down and look at the three pictures on the wall and they actually see them. Guided by a downloadable meditation, visitors are encouraged to spend up to 15 minutes with their chosen artwork, one by one.
In a world where the demands on our eyes dominate and attention is the resource, this unique thinking space, called , is a place where one can regain concentration. This is all part of , led by museum consultant Louise Thompson.
Over the past 12 years, Thompson has worked as Director of Health and Wellbeing at Manchester Art Gallery, developing the idea of a conscious museumand currently consults for museums around the world. Their radical vision is that a museum or art gallery is not just a place to store and display objects, but a public space where mental health can be improved.
“Museums are places where social connection thrives in many ways,” he explains. “They are also spaces where we promote connection with our identity, through observing objects in museums, which helps us develop a sense of ourselves and belonging.”
“The act of learning, which we find in museums, increases our confidence, our self-worth, our self-esteemand it is a great boost for mental health.”
Another thing that happens in museums and galleries, he says, is that we notice objects and collections. This act of paying attention is all about being in the present moment – a cornerstone of mindfulness meditation.
“It’s an act between us and the object,” says Thompson. “As a practitioner, we invite people in and ask them to sit and look at the object, guiding them to notice the formal elements it contains.”
You don’t need to know anything about fine art to participate; It’s about paying attention to what you see in front of you. Thompson has been collaborating with Aleksandra Igdalova from Goldsmiths University’s psychology department to look at how viewing art in museums is related to engagement and well-being. They found that visitors who viewed the same works in the Room to Breathe mindfulness environment felt felt more relaxed and more perceptually engaged than those who viewed the same works in a traditional gallery space.
Thompson saw this in action.
“People are much less stressed,” he said. “Their body language is a little tense and tight when they first enter, and they are not willing to talk to strangers. After 10 to 15 minutes, they physically change. Your bodies they are loosersofter, and speak to the person next to you.”
“They are also more connected to the object. They may start by thinking that the object is bored and wonder why I chose him. But after 10-15 minutes, they completely changed their minds.”
The implication is that the act of slowing down and taking time to fix allows you to see the beauty and interesting aspects of something that might otherwise have been discarded. It’s an idea that has broader consequences: stop to think and considering something – art, music, writing, or something else – builds meaning.
And the alternative, in our fast-paced, digital lives, is that by not fully engaging with the moment, we never give ourselves the opportunity to appreciate it, to engage with it or even to see its beauty in the first place.
All of this changes the way a museum or art gallery works. What if a museum is more than a collection of historical objects and becomes a place where you can learn something about yourself? What if an art gallery is more than a building full of paintings and becomes a mental health support that helps you think more clearly and calmly? And there’s more: What if you could learn a mindfulness skill in a museum that could improve the rest of your life?
“People we’ve worked with for years and years have told us this, and I can testify to it personally,” says Thompson, “If we learn this skill from an object or a painting, we begin to use it in our everyday lives as well. We started to notice beauty and simplicity of things. And that makes us appreciate them on a completely different level.”
Other galleries have adopted the Mindful Museums approach. At the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, mindfulness art viewing sessions have been offered until 2024 as part of its program Open Up With Vincent about mental health. Focusing on the artist’s work and life, the sessions were held alongside yoga and guided artistic meditations, available on the YouTube channel.
If you find yourself in an art gallery or museum without a mindfulness program, you can still reap the benefits.
Thompson suggests finding a space where there is fewer people and sit down – art galleries often have small portable benches for visitors at reception – and sit with just one painting for 10 to 15 minutes. Breathe in and out slowly and start looking at the details of the artwork, the shapes, the colors, the style, the areas that interest you and those that don’t. Participate in the act of repair and see how it changes your experience.
“It’s great to see Mona Lisa and have her on your bucket list, but I think if you had 10 minutes with a less famous work of art, the experience would be much more beneficial and powerful,” he says. “When we’re on vacation, there’s a part of us that wants to see all we can. I’m always encouraging people to check off the boxes on their list, but then pick an object while they’re there and sit with it for 5-10 minutes.”
