The Art & Science of Health: [conceptual scraps i]

The role that both art and science have to play in health, medicine and nursing is recognised by all. The distinction can be made in a great many ways using Hodges' model. Now: there is an exercise for a new group of student nurses ... ?

As I hope is evident in numerous blog posts and subjects of relevance to h2cm, notably, conceptual spaces and threshold concepts, concepts are a basic element in nursing scholarship and debate within art.
 
In the FT Weekend June 9-10, 2012, p.11 I read: "Conceptual: only worth the paper it's written on" (Georgina Adam). From a healthcare perspective, Adam's opening question seems fairly innocuous:

"How do you prove that you own a work of conceptual art?"

Amid the ongoing revelations involving user's personal data and the governance and values of social media companies lies the question of ownership. First though, back to Adams:

"This is an interesting issue in today’s art market, with the trend towards the dematerialisation of art, and the primacy of the idea over its physical presence.

For example, the late US artist Félix González-Torres’s works include “Candy Spills”, in which wrapped sweets are piled on the floor or in a corner, to be taken and eaten by viewers. When the pile has gone, the owner of the work replenishes it. So what stops anyone making and selling their own “Candy Spill”?

The answer is the certificate of authenticity issued by the artist or their estate. This scrap of paper is, in fact, the only proof that the work of art genuinely belongs to you, and this is actually what you buy and sell.

So losing it is a disaster."

The contrast of this within health care and its 'record' is quite stark. There are at least two ways to  distinguish between the scraps of paper we use ...:

to be continued...