In response to the corona crisis; artists without work, hundreds of helping hands short in the care sector, Ann, Justine and Rasa started wondering whether there might not be a way to connect the two sectors and see what artists could do in the care sector anyway. They wanted to put it to the test themselves and see what it does to us as people and as artists.

They found a partner at Huize Sint-Monica in the Marolles and just started helping there two years ago. Getting to know the home and its residents, care staff and volunteers, they named the project the Ambulanten and thought they would like to develop a toolbox for care that could be used and supplemented by artists and residential care homes.

Their project runs over 3 years because they really want to give themselves time to thoroughly investigate all aspects of this rather vast topic and to make the toolbox slowly and qualitatively good. They have chosen to make everything they create with their hands. Crafts are often slow and they have decided they have time.

Besides their days at St Monika, they also conduct research during their residencies. They find it important to check off a project they started in a Brussels context, also in Flanders, distance themselves and reflect on the past months. Usually Ann, Justine and Rasa do a public presentation at the end of a residency to which people from the healthcare and arts sectors are invited, these moments serve to talk, get feedback and listen.

Rasa Alksnyte, Justine Maxelon & Ann Weckx (LT/DE/BE)

Ann, Justine and Rasa are three artists from different backgrounds and disciplines with a strong focus on care and social engagement. This project developed as a direct response to the corona crisis and the strong impact on the care as well as the art-sector. In June 2021 Ann, Justine and Rasa became volunteers in the elderly home Sint Monika in Brussels to investigate and search for more holistic, bottom-up working practices that actively engages everyone present at the elderly home. Their field-research on how collaborations between the art and the care sector could happen in a more inclusive and sustainable way will grow into a “toolbox of care” in 2023.