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demedartsWalker Design

INSPIRED BY BARBIE

© Copyright Protected

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INSPIRED BY BARBIE

Walker, Design by Ruth Mateus-Berr & Pia Scharler & Petra Weixelbraun

Pink LED string lights, PVC pipe, nitro alkyd-based spray paint, Barbie Fashionista (65th anniversary Barbie)

70.00x260.00x70.00

2023

BARBIE's Nostalgic Stroll introduces a touch of nostalgia and playfulness to the everyday lives of seniors. The design with pink pastel colors and pink LED light combines the iconic aesthetics of Barbie with a practical aid for the elderly. At the same time, it connects young and old because it reminds them of a cherished toy from the past.


These rollators stand for Critical Design, a design style that criticizes things or conditions; here it draws attention to a deficiency in design and demands the right to self-determined and self-confident aesthetics. The objects are not intended for actual use, but should contribute to a change in design. This can also create an interaction that can have a positive effect on people with dementia with a basic withdrawal behavior and experience of loneliness, because it can be assumed that people will be addressed by rollators designed in this way.


This also draws on experiences from reminiscence therapy, which deals with memories from personal biographies. This is supplemented by visual, haptic, auditory and olfactory design and in relation to body memories, which still require a lot of research in terms of dementia research.


The topic of art and dementia is about 

1. raising awareness of the topic of dementia - for example with the rollators as critical design: this is not about usability, but the objects draw attention to the needs of those affected, who want to remain part of our society, feel the right to be crazy and have fun and want to be addressed by a different aesthetic, 

2. creating opportunities for people with dementia, relatives and carers to create well-being using art as a method. Biographical references are taken up in a haptic-aesthetic way. At the same time, the objects also draw attention to the need for interaction and the disappearance of loneliness.

DEMEDARTS is an artistic research project of the Center for Didactics for Art and Interdisciplinary Education at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

Funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), within the PEEK-program (Programm zur Erweiterung und Erschließung der Künste): A-609 ; Project DOI: 10.55776/AR609

The project runs from: February 2020 – January 2023

 

2024 Arte Laguna Prize for Art & Design. International Prize for Contemporary Art.

AWARD FUNDER: Italian Cultural association MoCA (Modern Contemporary Art)

Ruth Mateus-Berr and Pia Scharler

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