On 14 April, Therme Art collaborated with Serpentine Galleries to present the Wellbeing Culture Forum Experiencing to Reconnect: The Transformative Potential of Art. The panel discussion considered the powerful role of art and creativity in navigating crisis and was joined by artist and designer Es Devlin, along with artists Torkwase Dyson and Tino Sehgal. While working in different media and registers, all explore questions of shared space, creating ‘experiences that reveal capabilities’ (Dyson) and new points of connection rooted in a renewed awareness of our symbiotic relationship to each other and our natural world.

In line with the Wellbeing Culture Forum's broader vision, Experiencing to Reconnect was a direct response to current events. Over recent years, we have witnessed the growing visibility of artistic projects founded on shared experience and exchange. However, the pandemic and its accompanying social and cultural upheavals have highlighted their urgency, revealing, as Devlin puts it, ‘the scale of which we see, and the scale we don’t see.’

In the current moment of isolation and quarantine, reconnection through shared experience has become a widely felt need. Gathering actors who are helping to define and expand the increasingly influential field of experiential art, Experiencing to Reconnect explored how art can generate reconnection, counter a ‘dominance of nationality’ (Sehgal) and help us navigate this crisis, and the next.

Marking the start of a new cycle of Wellbeing Culture Forum, Experiencing to Reconnect: The Transformative Potential of Art was an opportunity for key figures from art and design to meet and consider the current crisis, describe new artistic strategies that have emerged from it, and create bridges through which new art forms can create positive social and environmental impact.

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