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Logo Generalitat

SuperArt

SuperArt

A collaborative project bringing together culture, heritage, art and health to transform the Museum into a space for recovery, inclusion and participation.

SuperArt is a mediation project developed by the Museu d’Art de Girona and the Gironès–Pla de l’Estany Community Rehabilitation Service (IAS). It uses the Museum’s heritage, collections and facilities as a tool for personal recovery, social inclusion and cultural participation for people experiencing mental health challenges. The project is based on the belief that museums can become places of wellbeing, learning and connection, where people move from being passive visitors to becoming active participants in cultural life.

Now in its third edition, SuperArt has become a well-established initiative, forming part of both the Museum’s educational programme and the IAS community rehabilitation pathways.

From participants to cultural mediators

SuperArt was created to offer users of the Mental Health Rehabilitation Service an ongoing experience of engaging with art, enabling them to develop personal, communication and social skills. The aim was not simply to visit the museum, but to understand it from the inside.
During the first editions, participants discovered how the Museu d’Art de Girona operates, took part in educational workshops like any other visitor, explored mediation strategies and gradually took on the challenge of leading activities themselves for school and family groups.
This change of role is the project’s greatest strength: participants move from being recipients of activities to becoming educators, cultural mediators and cultural agents. They now regularly contribute to family activities open to all Museum audiences, including the Art Acció creative event, International Museum Day (with activities and guided visits), a Christmas workshop and adapted visits for other users of mental health services.

An evolution that goes beyond the project

Many participants have developed friendships that extend beyond the programme, sharing activities in their free time and creating a mutual support network that contributes to their wellbeing. For this group, the Museum has become a place of belonging, participation and personal reference.
After three years, SuperArt has entered a new phase. The original group has become so well established that its members have taken on a new role: mentoring other users of mental health services. This new stage broadens collaboration with several IAS care units—including community rehabilitation, day hospitals and adult and adolescent inpatient units—and positions SuperArt participants as companions and mentors for new groups throughout the process.

A model for the social museum

SuperArt shows that museums can be far more than places devoted to preserving and sharing heritage. When mediation is built on trust, shared responsibility and active participation, the museum becomes a space for citizenship, inclusion and social transformation.

The project not only benefits its participants but also transforms the institution itself and the public’s perception of mental health. The emergence of participant mentors embodies this evolution: people who have experienced their own recovery journey and now accompany others along the same path, making the Museu d’Art de Girona a shared space for culture, wellbeing and community.