The Texture of Air
Impressions of Eastman Dental Hospital & Royal National Throat Nose and Ear Hospital
The Texture of Air was a public art commission from University College London Hospitals, taking place between 2017 and 2020. It explores two lost hospital buildings and the extraordinary perceptual worlds within them. It unfolded in the last days of the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital, located at no. 330 Grays Inn Road for nearly 150 years, and the Eastman Dental Hospital, a few doors down, was established in 1930.
The old hospitals boasted many medical interventions - the discovery of otoacoustic emissions, the first NHS cochlear implant programme, and the repair of famous opera singers. But the everyday senses of place became the focus for On the Record, and collaborators ScreenDeep. "It's the texture of the air," says a patient who has lost his sense of smell, describing his uncanny experience of a perception severed from its former physical architecture. This became a fitting title for an exhibition about closed hospitals that persist in the imagination.
The Texture of Air created an oral history archive, and an award-winning audio-visual artwork which can be accessed here. Three sculptures commemorating the hospitals are permanently installed at 47-49 Huntley Street.
The project was kindly supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to the contributions of National Lottery players, as well as The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, On the Record and ScreenDeep.
Artwork 2: Detail from a LiDAR, wood, light, and metal sculpture created by architect Bernadette Devilat in collaboration with Laura Mitchison.
Artwork 4: A relief representing the staircase of the Eastman Dental Hospital by Eloise Hawser.
About UCLH Arts & Heritage
UCLH Arts & Heritage is the hospital arts and heritage project that serves UCLH NHS Foundation Trust and its surrounding community. It 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 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 several ways, including a changing exhibition and music programme, creative workshops on wards, artist residencies, commissioning site-specific artwork, and a staff culture club. UCLH Charity and the Friends of UCLH fund UCLH arts and heritage.
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