Conferences and symposiums Arts for Health: The 2nd Nordic-Baltic Seminar on Art in Hospitals
21-04-2026 Add to iCal
We invite healthcare professionals, art and culture specialists and persons working in and with hospital environments in the Baltic and Nordic countries to attend the Arts for Health seminar taking place on 20th and 21st of April 2026 at The New Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Hospitals have become significant places for art displays, while the presence of art plays an important part for health and well-being of patients, families and healthcare staff. The first Nordic-Baltic Seminar on Art in Hospitals, was held on November 18-20 2024. This will be the second meeting in the same series.
The goal of the seminar will be to share knowledge on art in hospital environments and promote the network for professionals working at the intersection of healthcare and art in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The language of the seminar is English.
Preliminary program
Monday April 20 at Sune Bergström lecture hall; NKS
09.00 Registration
10.00 – 13.00 Plenary session
Marcel W. Foster is an American public health professional, arts evaluator, choreographer, and researcher specializing in arts and health integration.He co-founded and directs Performance Hypothesis, LLC, serves as a Research & Evaluation Associate at NYU's Jameel Arts & Health Lab and teaches as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Florida's Center for Arts in Medicine.Foster has developed evaluation methodologies for assessing the impact of arts on health outcomes, including the Hospital Mural Evaluation and the Healing Arts Atlanta initiative addressing racism as a public health crisis. His research has been published in Qualitative Health Research and The American Journal of Primatology.Foster holds an MPH from Emory University[ and dual bachelor's degrees in Anthropology and Theater from the University of Minnesota, combining formal public health training with arts expertise to create innovative evaluation approaches.
Max Lijefors, Lund University
Mats Lekander, Karolinska Institutet,
Birgit Bundsen, Mental Health Care Center Amager, Danish Center for Arts and Mental Health, Copenhagen
Magdalena Åberg, Helsinki
13.00 Cold lunch on site
14.00 – 15.15 Break out sessions
Themes:
- The demand for evidence in healthcare versus art’s claim for autonomy
- There are many kinds of healthcare environments – can they all cater for the same art and art interventions?
- Format and scope of Nordic collaboration
- Nordic Examples, patients and artists
15.30 Performance by The Ballet Academy, Stockholm
16.00 – 17.30 Plenary lectures
16.00-16.30 Daisy Fancourt, London (video)
Why arts are an overlooked health behaviour: insight from epidemiological, behavioural and economic research
Daisy Fancourt is Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London where she heads the Social Biobehavioural Research Group, Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health and UNESCO Chair in Arts & Global Health. She has published 300 scientific papers, received over £37m in research funding, and won over two dozen academic prizes. She is a multi-award-winning science communicator and has been named a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and BBC New Generation Thinker. Daisy is listed as one of the most highly cited scientists in the world. She is author of the Sunday Times bestseller Art Cure, which is long-listed for the international Women’s Prize for non-fiction.
16.35 Arts in Hospitels
Stefan Karlsson, Arts lab, Sahlgrenska. Gothenburg
Amelie Edlund, Ersta diakoni, Stockholm.
18.00 In the CELL exhibit, get together; drink and snacks.
Tuesday April 21
Eva and Georg Klein lecture Hall, Biomedicum, Solna väg 9, Karolinska Institutet
9.00 Lectures
Artists-in-residence: An Emerging Concept in Medicine
Moderator: Dr Jonas Nordquist, KI
Moderator: Dr Jonas Nordquist
- Ms. Cecilia Hillström, Gallerist
- Ms. Ebba Bohlin, Artist-in-residence, Karolinska Institutet
10.00 Contributions from participants.
Reports from breakouts
11.00 Coffee break
11.30 Guided tours at NKS art project; 2-3 groups
13.00 Lunch
14.00 Organized Visit to Art Exhibits in Stockholm
National Museum, Sven-Harrys Art Hall
16.00 End of meeting
Registration
The event is free of charge, but you need to register in advance. Participants will however have to cover travel and accommodation. You can already register now and please do so no later than March 31 2026. Please use the link below to register already now – welcome!
Register online here for the event
Accomodation
A block of rooms have been reserved for two nights, April 19-20 and 20-21 at the Elite Hotel Carolina Tower, Eugeniavägen 6,very conveniently just opposite to the NKS hospital main entrance where the venue of the first day is located. The price is 1501 SEK/night (appr 132 €s) and includes breakfast. If you wish to reserve rooms from this block send the name of guest(s) and the dates required (19-20/4 and/or 20-21/4) and if you require a single or double room to:
ingemar.ernberg@ki.se
Presentations
If you also would like to give a very short presentation of your activities in this field also send a five sentence summary to Ingemar.ernberg@ki.se latest February 28.
Organizing Committee
Center for Culture, Cognition and Health, Karolinska Institutet
Additional information:
Giulia Gaudenzi, assistant professor, Karolinska Institutet giulia.gaudenzi@ki.se
Ingemar Ernberg, senior professor Ingemar.ernberg@ki.se +4670 5467636
John Sennett, PhD Student, Webadministrator John.sennett@ki.se