5 March –Â 17 May 2015
Open Tuesday-Sunday 11am-6pm
Free
Group Therapy is an exhibition inspired by FACT’s extensive work within mental health and wellbeing, and will explore the complex relationship between technology, society, and mental health. The exhibition will encourage visitors to rethink their understanding of mental health and wellbeing, by asking how far our personal wellbeing is related to the values of the society we live in and the impact of new technologies.
The exhibition will feature a variety of works by artists, designers and researchers and offers visitors to take a closer look at FACT’s work in the mental health field over the years in an interactive archive.
In collaboration with various mental health organisations, including Mersey Care NHS Trust, FACT has been involved in projects for participants with mental health issues for more than 20 years. Projects that FACT has been involved with include the recent launch of a mental health support app, In Hand, developed with young people, and projects with military veterans, many with mental health problems.
The exhibition also ties in with very current societal issues. For example, The Vacuum Cleaner’s major installation Madlove, which is supported by the Wellcome Trust and the The British Psychological Society (BPS), addresses the artist’s own experience of psychiatric hospitals as punishing rather than loving environments. A collaboratively designed asylum will be created at FACT as “a safe place to go mad” in response to this.
Group Therapy will also display a variety of digital tools including apps, games and online forums to illustrate the diverse ways we use technology to manage and mediate our emotions in the 21st Century.
A wider programme containing films, talks and events exploring mental health and technology will accompany this exhibition, which also is coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week  2015 (11 – 17 May).
Image credits: Quintan Ana Wikswo and Lauren Moffat