Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth raise £430,000
Press Release
Hospital Rooms and Hauser & Wirth raise over £430,000 in the second year of their partnership with an annual charity auction at Bonhams to support projects in mental health hospitals, in particular a Children and Adolescent Service in Sandwell at Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. The partnership aims to raise £1million over three years and builds on the first year’s initiatives, which raised £325,000.
Artists Martin Creed, Charles Gaines, Allison Katz, Caroline Walker, Hurvin Anderson and Do Ho Suh generously donated artworks for the event, which included both live and online auctions.
Bonhams generously waived both buyers and sellers premium for the sale and 100% of the proceeds went to supporting Hospital Rooms projects.
Iwan and Manuela Wirth have made a significant donation, which will enable Hospital Rooms to bring online creative programmes and art materials to every inpatient mental health ward in England in 2024.
The auction follows a vibrant summer exhibition programme at Hauser & Wirth London titled Holding Space that featured artwork by Sutapa Biswas, Abbas Zahedi and Alvin Kofi among many others as well as creative workshops and talks.
'Each year we are overwhelmed by the generosity of the artists we work with, our amazing partners Hauser & Wirth and Bonhams, and of course the wonderful Hospital Rooms community of supporters who have purchased artworks and made donations. Once again, we will be able to undertake more ambitious projects and have a greater impact thanks to these initiatives. We are thrilled with this result.'
– Niamh White (Hospital Rooms Co-Founder)
'Hospital Rooms transforms the lives of so many patients at a point when positive reflection and hope is vital. What small things we can do to raise money seems incalculable to the ambitions and achievements of Niamh, Tim and the whole team… a hundred thousand thank yous.'
– Neil Wenman, (Global Creative Director, Hauser & Wirth)
'Bonhams is honoured to support such important and impactful work. This is
a fantastic result for Hospital Rooms and a true reflection of the art community coming together to support mental health, transform lives and bring joy to patients. Congratulations to everyone for such a great achievement.'
– Cassi Young (Bonhams Department Director, Post War & Contemporary Art)
AUCTION IMPACT
From 2023 – 2026, Hospital Rooms is responding to the catastrophic impact that the pandemic and cost of living crisis has had on young people’s mental health.
Urgent referrals to Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) associated with psychosis, self-harm and suicidal ideation have increased by 63% (Apr-Jun 2019 v 2021) (Guardian 2021).
CAMHS are at capacity and extremely unwell young people are on 2 year waiting lists. Young people with severe mental illness on acute and high dependency wards and often detained under the Mental Health Act live away from their families, for between 4 weeks and 9 months.
Staff and patients have told Hospital Rooms that the sterile environment and absence of meaningful activities fuels boredom and has a damaging effect on recovery. Clinical teams report a devastating lack of imagination, motivation, self-esteem and hope in young people.
This year, Hospital Rooms are working with Sandwell CAMHS at Black Country NHS Foundation Trust, an outpatient community mental health service for young people experiencing mental illness. The building’s 15 therapy rooms, communal spaces and staff offices are significantly run down with no creative elements.
'What stands out in my mind is feedback that I got from a young person, ‘we are sitting in prisons.’'
– Sandwell CAMHS Staff member, Focus Group session
'We want to create an environment that says, ‘People do get better, it will get better, this is a space for that.’'
– Sandwell CAMHS Staff member, Focus Group session
Hospital Rooms is working with the service over a period of 18 months to transform the Lodge Road mental health outpatient service building. A group of 13 artists including Roo Dhissou, Marley Starskey and Sarah Silverwood Taylor have been leading creative sessions with young people throughout the Easter, Half Term and Summer school holidays to collaboratively conceive of inventive and transformative artworks for the space. We now need to bring these artworks to reality.
'It is wonderful that Sandwell CAMHS has teamed up with the Hospital Rooms to bring beautiful, unique artwork to our Lodge Road site.The project will bring Sandwell young people together and give them a chance to express themselves creatively, while making a real difference to improve the environment for those who use our service. This partnership shows the importance of our Trust working with partner organisations to carry out exciting, innovative work in the field of mental health care. I can’t wait to see what our young people create with the Hospital Rooms team.'
– Nicky Mountford, Service Manager and Clinical Lead for Sandwell CAMHS at Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
PRESS PACK
NOTES TO EDITOR
With Thanks
Hospital Rooms annual Charity Auction Holding Space is in partnership with Hauser & Wirth and supported by Bonhams. With additional support from COAT, Crozier, Winsor & Newton, Gallagher Re and Scarlet & Violet.
About Hospital Rooms
Hospital Rooms is an arts & mental health charity working to radically transform NHS Mental Health hospitals with creative programming and world-class artist commissions.
Artist Tim A Shaw and curator Niamh White founded Hospital Rooms after a close friend was sectioned and admitted to a mental health hospital. On visiting her, they were shocked to find that the hospital environment was cold and clinical at a time when she was so vulnerable. Having worked in the arts for 10 years each, they felt they had the skills and community to be able to transform these spaces with high quality artworks. In 2016, Dr Emma Whicher (now one of Hospital Rooms’ trustees) gave them the opportunity to run their first project at the Phoenix Unit, a rehabilitation unit for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. They commissioned Nick Knight, Gavin Turk, Assemble among other world class artists to work with patients and staff to create site specific artwork for the ward. The project received national press attention and Hospital Rooms has been inundated with requests for projects ever since.
About Hauser & Wirth
Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by Partner and President Marc Payot and CEO Ewan Venters in 2020. A family business with a global outlook, Hauser & Wirth has spaces in Hong Kong, London, New York, Southampton, Los Angeles, Somerset, Menorca, Monaco, Zurich, Gstaad, and St. Moritz. The gallery represents over 90 artists and estates who have been instrumental in shaping its identity, and who are the inspiration for Hauser & Wirth’s diverse range of activities that engage with art, education, conservation, and sustainability.
Their committed and long-term support of Hospital Rooms has enabled the charity to continue its ambitious mission to bring the highest quality art and creative programming to some of the most challenging mental health settings.
About Bonhams
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world’s largest and most renowned auctioneers, offering fine art and collectables, collectors’ cars and a luxury division, which includes jewellery, designer fashion, watches, wine, and whisky. In 2021 and 2022, Bonhams made a number of important acquisitions which form the wider Bonhams network. These include: Bukowskis, Bruun Rasmussen, Bonhams Skinner, and Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr.
There are 14 salerooms around the globe: UK: New Bond Street, London; Knightsbridge, London; Edinburgh. US: New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Marlborough. Hong Kong: Admiralty. France: Avenue Hoche, Paris; Rue de la Paix, Paris. Belgium: Brussels; Denmark: Copenhagen. Sweden: Stockholm and Australia: Sydney
Caption and courtesy:
Hospital Rooms Holding Space Auction at Bonhams, 2023. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Moyes
Hospital Rooms Holding Space Exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, 2023. Photo courtesy of Lucy Dawson
Hospital Rooms Holding Space Auction Installation at Bonhams, 2023. Photo courtesy of Lucy Dawson