Catherine Opie: Cleveland Clinic | "Exclusive" | Art21

Episode #163: Photographer Catherine Opie describes her intentions behind the permanent installation "Somewhere in the Middle" (2011) at Hillcrest Hospital, a branch of Cleveland Clinic, in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. Created specifically for the hospital setting, the installation consists of 22 photographs taken from the shores of Lake Erie near Opie's hometown of Sandusky, Ohio. It is Opie's hope that the photographs provide a space for patients, doctors, vistors and hospital employees to experience an ethereal moment during what may be a difficult time in their lives. Catherine Opie investigates the ways in which photographs both document and give voice to social phenomena in America today, registering people’s attitudes and relationships to themselves and others, and the ways in which they occupy the landscape. Working between conceptual and documentary approaches to image making, Opie examines familiar genres—portraiture, landscape, and studio photography—in surprising uses of serial images, unexpected compositions, and the pursuit of radically different subject matters in parallel. Learn more about Catherine Opie at: http://www.art21.org/artists/catherine-opie CREDITS: Producer: Ian Forster. Consulting Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Wesley Miller & Susan Sollins. Camera: Mark Falstad & Laura Paglin. Sound: Darryl Dickenson & Heidi Hesse. Editor: Lizzie Donahue & Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: Catherine Opie. Special Thanks: Cleveland Clinic. Theme Music: Peter Foley.

有时候人们来到医院里，

他们会在他们所爱的人的病房里

住上四到五天，

帮助他们站起来，在外面走一走，

而当病人们在做一些医学测试或者疗程的时候，

这些人会专注那些原创作品，这真的是很神奇。

但，有些人是不愿意

来到医院里的祈祷室的。

你知道吗，人们其实是需要一些地方，容许他们

有自己安静的一刻，或是进行一些思考，

但这些地方并不该局限于教堂相关的场所。

我们所寻找的艺术作品是那些会真正吸引人们的……

我的意思是，当你看见人们仿佛在与那些艺术作品交流时，

那种专注，它是你感受得到的。

这样的艺术在起作用——它是能激发某种东西的。

我们这常说的就是：

“药可医身，而艺术医心。”

我们真正相信这点，因为它真的能够帮助你

度过那些你正觉得艰难的时刻。

这就是悬挂艺术作品的走廊，

作品将会一直延伸到走廊尽头。

并且，我真的很喜欢的一点是