Halsey Burgund brings us Patient Translations

I introduced Halsey Burgund to many of you back in January, when he was working on a new piece of public art called ROUND: Cambridge.  This was an "exhibit" that comprised recordings made by people as they wandered around the city, tied to particular locations.  I thought it was very creative and said,

Now, imagine a hospital that allowed people to do the same thing.  Think about what we would hear from patients about the quality and safety of care being delivered, or physical features of our buildings, or whatever.  But we have to want to listen.

Well, Halsey has done that one step better.  He writes:

Just wanted to let you know that since we last spoke, I have had a flurry of activity on a project that I have long been interested in pursuing on health.  Obviously, I thought you might find it interesting.  I am collecting voices of people talking about their experiences as a patient and with health issues in general and creating an evolving musical piece using those voices.

The project, called Patient Translations, was commissioned originally for the Healthcare Experience Design conference in Boston (http://healthcareexperiencedesign.com/) late last month and will be traveling to TEDMED in DC (tedmed.com) next week.  It's a collaboration with a visual artist, Kelly Sherman, who is using the same raw material of spoken voices to create a visual component to the artwork.

In any case, if you are curious, more info is at patienttranslations.com and you can get the free app on your iPhone if you want to listen or contribute.

 

Here's a screen shot of part of the website: