Assist Superman, will ya?

[Superman]

I need some help from some creative people around here. I'm involved with an organization that does, among many things, charity fund raising.

We are doing a series of projects, and some of them are randomly assigned. I was lucky enough to get one that I know little, if anything, about. The topic is art; either modern, sculptures, architecture, Renaissance Period, Age of Baroque, Contemporary, etc. If it's art, it's acceptable.

I am expected to give a presentation that deals with the study of art; but I am not yet sure how to proceed because I have to somehow connect art to medicine. Since psychiatry is where my interests lie, I would think that this should actually make this topic a little easier, but another difficulty lies in the fact that this art needs to be somewhat controversial. The controversy doesn't have to be in the message though, like a politcal statement; it could be as simple as someone with Austism creating a masterpiece and then explaining a model of thought perception that explains its features.

Can anyone come up with some ideas? I would love to hear anything anyone can come up with.

Ideally, I would love to somehow connect this to the anti-psychiatry screwballs (Scientology, for example), and show how ignorant they really are...

Any help would be appreciated.

[Tasoth]

With the linking of art and medicine, DaVinci and his studies of human anatomy come to mind, as do the various studies after his time of the human body. I believe freud said human creative is just a refocusing of the human libido into something creative, but then other psychologists have stated that creativity can be a force of it's own.

[Dalton]

Ask any special-ed teacher how creativity can help kids with Autism.

[Superman]

With the linking of art and medicine, DaVinci and his studies of human anatomy come to mind, as do the various studies after his time of the human body. I believe freud said human creative is just a refocusing of the human libido into something creative, but then other psychologists have stated that creativity can be a force of it's own.

Thanks. DaVinci is a great idea. I'll definitely check into some possibilities there.

I was sort of thinking about Freudian theory too; that would be easy to demonstrate as controversial, supported by evidence, and applicable in psychiatry.

Thanks Dalt., I'll do that too.

[General Zod]

Ever hear of Body Worlds? I wouldn't suggest completely ripping off their ideas or anything, but they've done something similar to what you're suggesting. Basically they've taken human cadavers and made them into statues, to reveal the actual human muscular and nervous systems for people to look at and examine for themselves.

So, for a combination of art and medicine, it's not too shabby a presentation. Just as one possible example for ideas to draw from.

[Rye]

You've got a degree in anthropology don't you? Start off with cave art, human artistic expression is pretty fucking old, start from there and it should flow like blood from a Cannibal Corpse album cover.