Cicely Saunders Institute / Contemporary Art Society
Jeni Walwin was the Curatorial Advisor for this project. She worked with the Contemporary Art Society team on the early development of the programme and was responsible for establishing the Artistic Strategy for the commissions, drawing up the shortlist of artists, and overseeing the selection process. Once the artists were appointed the Contemporary Art Society took over the project management of the commissions.

Caroline McCarthy, Light for Cicely, 2010, installation view at the Cicely Saunders Institute and 4 details

Tania Kovats, Birch, 2010, installation view and detail

The Cicely Saunders Institute is a purpose built research and information centre for palliative care at King's College London. The Cicely Saunders Foundation was largely responsible for the funding of the new building and was keen to incorporate art as Cicely Saunders (the founder of the hospice movement) had always felt it played an important role within palliative care. A small steering group of academics, clinicians and patients had identified two key themes for the building - reflecting the natural world, and acting as a symbolic beacon of light for the institute's work. The art commissions were expected to reflect these aims. After an art strategy was agreed, two separate commissions were initiated - one for the atrium space and a second in response to the Cicely Saunders archive.

Tania Kovats', Birch, straddles three floors of the building, is made of jesmonite and hand painted in the studio. Accompanied by the recording of blackbird song, played quietly at dawn and dusk every day in the space, the work symbolises the reality of being at the point of life where the small details of living come into sharp focus, where the call of a bird or the surface of tree bark is something precious enough to be noticed or cherished.

Caroline McCarthy's, Light for Cicely was a direct response to the legacy of Dame Cicely Saunders. Individuals connected to her were invited to send by email a photograph of a lamp turned on in their home. Family, friends, colleagues and supporters - from Poland, Italy, Norway, Uganda, Pakistan, Ireland, India, the USA and Canada, as well as from the UK - contributed to the project. Displayed throughout the new building and on a dedicated website, the photographs (68 in total) bring something of every contributor's home into the building. The notion of 'home' as an antidote to the institution was central to Saunders' concept of a suitable environment for those living with terminal illness - a radical idea in her time. A book containing all photographs and accompanying texts by each contributor is available at the Cicely Saunders Institute.

The Institute, people who work here, and visitors to it have been thrilled with this project. The tone of the Kovats' work creates a very particular atmosphere throughout the building - its quiet and careful attention to minute detail is exactly in keeping with the work undertaken there. And the way that McCarthy's piece brings responses from over 60 individuals into the heart of the building has been warmly and often very emotionally received - her research process meant that many people connected with Cicely have now been represented within the building and their contributions combine personal memories of this important woman with a comment on the light and its place in their own home.

Links:
www.cicelysaundersinternational.org
www.carolinemccarthy.net