Museum as Therapy — interview with PhD Robert Kotowski

42 million people visited museums in Poland in 2023. What attracts visitors to these institutions today? It is undoubtedly their diverse offer: alongside showcasing works of art, museums also fulfill important social roles — they help build human connections and engage audiences through a variety of interesting activities. And although it might not be immediately obvious, museums also have a positive impact on our health.

Professor Robert Kotowski, PhD, Director of the National Museum in Kielce, talks about museum therapy.

Who visits museums in Poland today? The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that even art can now be accessed online. So what is the role of museums today?

Everyone — regardless of age, gender, education, profession, or social group. According to the latest data from Statistics Poland (GUS), 42.3 million people visited the 974 museums operating in Poland last year. Of course, during the COVID-19 period, that number was lower, but we are now seeing a return to the upward trend. The pandemic also revealed a new face of museums, which began sharing their collections online and organizing virtual tours and exhibitions. This somewhat changed their role — from places that simply store and present art to educational platforms accessible from anywhere in the world. However, it’s important to emphasize that nothing can replace direct contact with a museum object and the emotions that come with it. Museums, in addition to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting artifacts, fulfill various social functions. They play a significant role in building human connections, facilitating social communication, engaging audiences, and inspiring reflection. They also serve an important role in health prevention and act as a form of therapeutic support.

For therapy to the museum? What does museotherapy mean? Is it some kind of new trend?

Why not? Museums can have a genuinely therapeutic effect on their audiences. That’s where the relatively new term museotherapy comes in. It describes the modern role of museums and their therapeutic impact on people dealing with the challenges of contemporary life — drawing on museum spaces, collections, narratives, as well as the knowledge and experience of psychologists, educators, and medical professionals. Since 2018, the National Museum in Kielce has been exploring this area by organizing annual academic conferences dedicated to the subject.

What does this kind of therapy look like in practice, and what benefits can we expect? Who is it especially recommended for?

Museotherapy is not an autonomous form of treatment, but only an adjunct to it in the form of organized workshops, programs for various therapeutic groups, visits recommended by psychotherapists and doctors as part of ongoing therapy, or finally individual visits. It is important that these forms are tailored to the specific audience and goals of the therapy or its support. Studies conducted in many parts of the world prove that practicing therapy in museums and galleries, can improve the state of mind of the participants, support the process of recovery and broadly improve the quality of life. They show that museotherapy is effectively used to support the treatment of many conditions, both of psychological and somatic orgin.

What makes art have a therapeutic effect on us? How does this mechanism work?

Indeed, art is crucial in the museotherapeutic process. It is extremely useful because of the healing properties of the creative process and its very positive effect on the brain. Communing with art triggers creative behavior and a positive attitude towards the environment and people. It allows one to look at life from a different perspective, as more meaningful and varied, restoring meaning to life, which is certainly important in the treatment of mood disorders, among other things. This is also confirmed by numerous studies. In 2019, the WHO published a report summarizing 3,000 publicly available pieces of evidence supporting the significant role of art in improving health and well-being.

What is the response of doctors, therapists to the phrase “museotherapy”?

In recent years, there has been a growing interest among physicians and therapists in this form of museums' impact, reflected in a number of research projects in this area and further initiatives to refer their patients to museums such as in Canada, where doctors affiliated with the Association of French-Speaking Physicians, by writing prescriptions, referred their patients to the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal. Also in Brussels, there was a project in which doctors, in an effort to help patients emerge from isolation caused by depression, prescribed prescriptions for free visits to museums in the Belgian capital. In Poland, the growing interest of the medical community is evident, but we cannot yet record similar projects. I think it is a matter of time. 

Does every museum have a therapeutic effect? What is the best museum to choose for this purpose?

I think any, but the effect of a visit to a museum on emotions and well-being is very individual. What evokes positive emotions in one person will not always evoke them in another. Museums are a place that allows for personal interpretation of the exhibits, which makes the experience of the visit unique for each person, hence it would be difficult for me to point out which museum would be the best in a universal way. Wanting to apply the practice of museotherapy, one would have to rely on a therapist, a doctor, who knows his subjects and is able to recommend the right museum, which, referring to the nature of the collections and their symbolic cultural significance, can contribute as much as possible to improve the well-being of specific individuals.

What methods can I use on my own when visiting a museum to benefit from the beneficial effects of art? 

In my opinion, one of the more interesting forms of museotherapy for individual safe use can be the practice of attentiveness based on museum objects. This type of exercise, for example, according to the 5-4-3-2-1 strategy (searching on images and stopping attention on 5 things you can see, 4 you can touch, 3 sounds you can hear, 2 smells and 1 taste you can smell), allows the viewer to focus on consciously feeling his senses, stopping and experiencing the moment attentively.

Interviewed by Edyta Ruta, coordinator of the Culture and Health program at the Institute of Urban Culture - City of Weaves.
Translated by Aleksandra Kozik.

Prof. Robert Kotowski, Ph.D. historian, museologist, certified curator, director of the National Museum in Kielce, head of the Department of Research on Libraries and Other Cultural Institutions at the Faculty of Journalism, Information and Bibliology of the University of Warsaw, Chairman of the National Committee of ICOM Poland. Member of many museum councils. Forerunner of museotherapy in Poland, originator and organizer of the National Scientific Conference MUZEOTERAPIA. Editor-in-chief of the Yearbook of the National Museum in Kielce. Author of many articles and scientific studies in the field of history and museology including museotherapy, among others Therapeutic Functions of Museums (2022), Museum as a space for health and well-being (2023), Bibliotherapy and museotherapy in an integrated approach (2024).