Reconnect: Your brain and nature

The background to this project is public health and the umbrella term; depression. In the early 00s, we could see a marked increase in mental illness and stress-related sick leave in Sweden.

The treatments and rehabilitation methods that already existed proved to have a limited effect and even today we have a hard time understanding what actually happens in the body during the symptoms. Our knowledge is so slim that we do not even understand why the existing medicines actually work, and what they do to the body. Studies from Harvard medical school and others highlights, on the other hand, what you can do to counteract moderate depression and anxiety - go out into nature. Hearing, smelling and feeling nature shows effects on the body that make you feel better.

This public installation wants to inform the public of the health benefits of taking a walk in the woods every now and then.

The installation has two sides that invite to interaction. One page contains an article on the subject and the other page has three shelves with twigs, stones, bark and soil that passers-by can lift, feel and smell.