Accident Book by Simon Faithfull
A sculpture made with the echoes of accidents, mishaps, and slips, the Accident Book is an inventory of strange events that tells the stories of things that went wrong.
In 2009, UCLH Arts & Heritage commissioned artist Simon Faithfull to create an innovative and challenging artwork called Accident Book, which chronicled, through text and drawing, in the form of a book, all the accidents that had occurred in the artist’s life. The book was placed within seven Accident and Emergency departments across London.
Apart from its apparent content, the idea behind placing it within an A&E refers to people’s hidden curiosity when in a waiting room or A&E department and their need to communicate their private drama. This curiosity stems from wanting to know why a fellow human visits to the A&E.
Accident Book enabled them to satisfy this curiosity and, at the same time, contribute to an artwork. An A&E ward can be a soulless environment, reducing the patient to an item on a slow-moving conveyor belt of care. As with other aspects of Faithfull’s practice, Accident Book aimed to humanise what can otherwise be a very alienating environment of the A&E waiting room.
About the Artist
Simon Faithfull is a British-born artist based in Berlin whose works are exhibited worldwide. His practice has been described as an attempt to understand and explore the planet as a sculptural object – to test its limits, sense its processes, and report back on how it feels. His practice takes various forms– from video to drawing to installation and writing. Faithfull’s artworks often enact humankind’s fragile position – within a web of life, on a ball of rock, spinning in space. Within his work, Faithfull frequently travels to new contexts and collaborates with scientists and local people, which helps him evolve a personal vision of our complex planet.
About UCLH Arts & Heritage
UCLH Arts & Heritage is the hospital arts and heritage project that serves UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and its surrounding community and is funded entirely by charitable donations and fundraising. UCLH Arts & Heritage is committed to providing a welcoming, uplifting environment for all patients, visitors and staff through the use of a varied and stimulating arts and heritage programme. Its work aims to improve the patient experience, boost staff morale, increase engagement with the arts and celebrate the Trust’s unique heritage and community.
Since 2005, UCLH has worked to improve patient and staff outcomes through the Arts. It does this in a number of ways, including a changing exhibition and music programme, creative workshops on wards, artist residencies, commissioning site-specific artwork, and a staff culture club. UCLH arts and heritage receives its funding from UCLH Charity and the Friends of UCLH.
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