How it all began
Art in the clinicIn March 1986, art moved into the clinic with the exhibition "Gunther Vogel - Drawings". For the Bad Krozingen Heart Center at the time, the combination of art and clinic was an experiment. Since then, exhibitions have become a matter of course in numerous medical facilities.
In 1985, the then Administrative Director Hubert Schwaibold decided to offer artists from Baden-Württemberg the opportunity to exhibit their works at the Heart Center. With this project, he wanted to encourage patients, staff and visitors to the hospital to engage with the works and thus gain a different perspective on the realities of illness and everyday life.
In intensive preliminary discussions with the chairman of the Professional Association of Visual Artists (BBK), consideration was given to how art could be shown in a place that was still unusual for exhibitions at the time, without catering to the usual viewing habits or decorating walls with pleasing pictures. It was agreed to work exclusively with artists who live in Baden-Württemberg or were born here, have studied at a state academy and whose work is part of the public art discourse.
To date, over 60 exhibitions have been organized, some of which have been held in cooperation with museums in the region on the attic floor, in the entrance hall or in the clinic park at the Bad Krozingen site.
The project of the former Heart Centre was presented at an international congress in Florence in 1998 (organized by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Culture of Tuscany and the Fondazione Michelucci in collaboration with UNESCO) and included in a guideline programme for art in hospitals.
In addition to the exhibitions, the University Heart Center at the Bad Krozingen campus has set up a collection of works by artists from Baden-Württemberg, which can be seen in the dining room, waiting areas and seminar rooms.
Beate Hill-Kalusche
University Heart Center
Campus Bad Krozingen