Created Out of Mind: shaping perceptions of dementia
Sebastian Crutch, Director of Created Out of Mind and Professor at UCL Dementia Research Centre, explains the research themes emerging from the project’s two-year Hub residency.

Credit: The Hub
Sebastian Crutch, Director of Created Out of Mind and Professor at UCL Dementia Research Centre, explains the research themes emerging from the project’s two-year Hub residency.
Credit: The Hub
We’re feeling motivated and excited as Created Out of Mind begins to open up new conversations with the public that help shape perceptions of dementias and the arts. Our abstract mission statement is starting to take solid form.
Launched in October 2016, Created out of Mind are the second residents of The Hub at Wellcome Collection in London. I lead an interdisciplinary team of scientists, visual artists, musicians, broadcasters, clinicians and carers.
We benefit from the diverse expertise of a team including:
We aim to reaffirm the value of people living with dementias and their individual experiences.
Taking the lead from conversations with people who have dementia, we want to enrich current perceptions and representations of their experiences.
And we want to demonstrate the power of the arts in communicating the personal stories and scientific realities of dementia – a more powerful medium than any blood test, brain scan or histogram.
It means the Hub has been constantly filled with music, poetry and visual art both created, and influenced by, people living with dementia. For team members who are less familiar with the people and conversations which inspired our project, support group meetings have been the times when the emotional heart of our residency has shone through.
The Hub has enabled a new way of working. I’ve been inspired to create and experiment in new ways, as I’m sure my team has, and to value the process and experience as much as the outcomes. This freedom, plus the expertise and resources available at Wellcome, means that ideas have thrived to become fully fledged projects.
Two research themes have emerged.
We’re exploring representations of dementias in everyday stories – from personal accounts, media, historical and medical texts to music and fiction – and using these to help shape the current dementia narrative. Some of these projects include:
We'll explore how people living with and without dementia respond to different experiences, such as seeing art or hearing music. We will measure these responses to assess the value of artistic interventions, and to stimulate new ways of thinking around how we perceive and present art. Some examples are:
Many of our projects are underway and we will be leading a programme of public events where people can explore dementia stories and participate in creative activities.
This starts with ‘The way I see it’ on 11 May at Wellcome Collection, a public discussion about how dementias are represented in media, music and narrative and how we might open up new perspectives about dementia through these platforms.
We are all likely to be affected by dementias in some way in our lifetime, and we aim to open up new dialogues that capture the depth of dementia experiences. We hope to continue this important work for a long time, and also to leave a legacy of understanding about dementias that is embodied in the design and management of public spaces, starting with Wellcome Collection.
Applications for the next Hub Award are open. The deadline for preliminary applications for the 2018-20 collaborative residency is Friday 7 July.
Full details about eligibility, what we offer and how to apply are on the Hub Award scheme page.