Care Service Tyrol, based in Hall i.T., the Center for Social & Health Innovation (CSHI) has realized an extraordinary art project. Led by Karin Schmitzberger, the artists of the group “Kunst Kultur Natur” (Art Culture Nature) created a large-format participatory painting that highlights the Center’s central research themes. At the same time, impressively demonstrates how participation, inclusion, and creative engagement can be lived in practice.
During the preparation phase, the participating artists intensively explored with key phrases such as health, public health, mental health, community, research, policy, health promotion, and participation. Using a bottom-up approach, the artists conceived, visualized, and further developed these topics from the clients’ perspective. The group collected associations, created sketches, and drew inspiration from exhibitions featuring various techniques and forms of expression.
The artists then combined their individual designs into a joint work of art on a primed wooden panel. Featuring warm colors, a textured background, and smooth transitions, the final piece is a harmonious and vibrant, conveying both diversity and cohesion. Above all, the creative process relied on empowering the clients and a participatory decision-making that gave everyone a voice.
On Thursday, November 20, 2025, the finished artwork was ceremoniously handed over at the MCI. The event fostered a valuable exchange: The artists reported on their creative processes and shared their personal thoughts on the motifs. In turn, they gained insight into health and social research.
The resulting painting combines motifs that particularly moved the artists during the creative process. Questions such as “What weighs on people?” and “What is justice?” are reflected, as is the joy of carrying out an inclusive project. The depicted hands symbolize mutuality and cohesion. The flowers, sun, and animals refer to the fact that we all live together in one world. A thought bubble representing an inclusive community expresses the desire for everyone to be equal (valuable) in the world.
Elements such as warmth in everyday life and the feeling of belonging run through the work as guiding principles. DNA, “which everyone possesses and which runs across the entire painting”, emerges as a unifying motif. The children depicted in the tree remind us that trees provide strength and symbolize growth. All these visual elements reflect themes that preoccupy artists and researchers alike.
The encounter impressively demonstrated the value of dialogue between science and social participation is – and the creativity and unifying power of joint projects.
This is an inspiring project that wonderfully combines artistic expression, inclusion, and social innovation.
©MCI/Aaron Heimerl
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