‘Hospital of Emotions’ Transforms a Los Angeles Building Into an Immersive Art Experience

Inside the meaningful exhibit’s artwork that explores the full spectrum of human emotion

In the “Hospital of Emotions,” an expansive exhibit running from May through July 31each emotion becomes its own hospital department. Joy, love, fear, anger, hope, sadness, gratitude and resilience are on display in 80 hospital rooms and corridors spread over 4 floors, transforming a formerly sterile, intimidating facility into a fully immersive artistic experience. 

The Vision

Hospitals are traditionally spaces where we confront our deepest fears and physical vulnerabilities. Set in the historic St. Vincent Medical Center building in Downtown Los Angeles, “Hospital of Emotions” shifts the focus from treating the physical body to processing the full spectrum of human feeling. 

According to online art magazine Colossal, St. Vincent Medical Center — vacant since 2020 —  is slated to become a full-service campus aimed at supporting the people of Los Angeles suffering from addiction, mental health concerns, housing insecurity and more. But through July 31st, visitors can experience “an alternative vision for communal healing” through the lens of 70 visual artists. 

Originally conceptualized by the House of Art & Dreams (HAD), a creative company that specializes in producing large-scale immersive, site-specific art exhibitions and cultural experiences, the exhibit is presented together with Royal Variety Arts and the St. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus. Their collective goal was to make contemporary art more accessible to the general public while giving artists the freedom to create ambitious site-specific works. 

The Artists

The “Hospital of Emotions” exhibition brings together a diverse group of over 70 artists, including a mixture of emerging talents and established creators. To fulfill the vision, HAD’s curator, Yaara Sachs, held an open call for proposals, and ended up accepting gallery-sanctioned artists alongside street artists, set designers, fashion stylists and students. 

The Vibes

Because “Hospital of Emotions” encompasses the visions of so many different artists, each “department of emotion” presents a wide spectrum of interpretations for the specific feeling. Every room was uniquely crafted using all kinds of mediums, techniques, and artistic disciplines, showcasing a global expression of humanity. 

“Normally when you go to the hospital, you treat the body. B, but this time, the exhibition is about healing your heart,” Sachs told The Art Newspaper. In her own exhibit, room 12 in the Joy Department, Sachs contributed a simple yet touching display: a plain hospital bed flanked by a rainbow of colored dye-filled IV bags. The contrast between the joyful array of colors and the sterile beiges and grays of an otherwise unadorned operating room speaks to the dichotomy of joy experienced in a hospital setting.

In contrast, the rich, vibrant hues of the realistic paintings covering the walls, floor, and ceiling of Spanish artist Pablo Thomas’s room come together to offer poignant snapshots of someone’s life. Scenes depicting a childhood bike ride, an evening celebrating with friends, a day at the beach, and old men conversing on a park bench come together in a blur of memories and pivotal moments in his room 28 in the Sadness Department. 

For the Resilience Department, artist and LA-based designer Alison Reber showed nature re-taking a tiny hospital room, with moss growing through cracks in the floors and walls, and a bed of wildflowers sprouting from the center of an unmade bed.

 “When you walk in my room, I want you to feel this kind of duality,” she saidys in an interview promoting Hospital of Emotions on Instagram. “That if we move forward, alongside with nature, there’s this hope that we can create a green, beautiful future together. And conversely, if we don’t move alongside nature, what’s gonna happen? We’re gonna be gone and nature will take back over, anyway.” 

In room 60 of the Anger Department, artist, scenographer, and creative director Sayoko Osada digitally projects an anime-esque image of a woman laying on a hospital bed, calmly reading, while red lines radiate away from her body, guiding the viewer’s eyes to notice the utter destruction of the room around her.

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