S.M.A.K., together with Bie Hinnekint of The Courage to Grow Old, is organising special workshops for people with dementia and their informal carers.
Contemporary art makes a valuable contribution to strengthening the bond between people living with dementia and those close to them. The museum is a safe, free space in which the artworks provide support and the shared experience of art can provide a different understanding of dementia.
DEMO-MEMO invites people with dementia and their carers to experience works of art together in S.M.A.K. Together with a guide, you visit the museum in a casual way. Different senses are stimulated with music and in-depth conversations, among other things. Participants with dementia articulate their thoughts on two works of art while partners listen. Bie Hinnekint, of The Courage to Grow Old, turns these thoughts into poetry.
Bie Hinnekint: "The situation of people with dementia is always defined from the loss of skills. Mainly, the aspect of failing memory is a recurring one. The Courage to Grow Old aims to take a different view: dementia is a process of consciousness evolution. This reversal process, seen as a loss to the environment, deserves our full attention and should be witnessed in a direct way like a work of art and not 'understood' if necessary. By experiencing art together, a different understanding of dementia announces itself."
