Creating a Space That Embraces the Hearts of Mothers and Families with “Connecting Lines” in the Maternity Ward: Kyoto University of the Arts Students Install Hospital Art at Kitano Hospital, Medical Research Institute in Osaka

One of the social implementation projects conducted by Kyoto University of the Arts (Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; President: Taku Sato) is the hospital art project "Hapii+," which aims to improve medical environments.

Since its inception in 2009, "Hapii+" has been active for 17 consecutive years. This fiscal year, at the request of Kitano Hospital, Medical Research Institute (Kita-ku, Osaka; Board Chair: Nobuya Inagaki; Hospital Director: Daisuke Hata), the team installed hospital art on the walls of the maternity ward.

17 Years of "Hapii+" Achievements and Background "Hospital Art," an art movement originating in the West aimed at providing emotional care for patients and medical staff, has gradually permeated Japan since the 2000s and is now incorporated into various medical institutions.

"Hapii+," one of our university's social implementation projects, began its activities in 2009. We recruit participants from all departments, and in the early stages of the project, we primarily carried out installations at the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine Hospital, followed by various other medical institutions, including the Kyoto University Hospital.

We first performed an installation at Kitano Hospital, Medical Research Institute in 2021, and have since created works for various spaces, including the outpatient area, the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)/GCU (Neonatal Convalescent Unit), and the Chemotherapy Center. This fourth project involved applying hospital art within the hospital's maternity ward.

(Reference) Previous "Hapii+" installations at Kitano Hospital, Medical Research Institute: NICU/GCU (2021): https://uryu-tsushin.kyoto-art.ac.jp/detail/1001 Chemotherapy Center (2023): https://uryu-tsushin.kyoto-art.ac.jp/detail/1248

Expressing “Seamless Care” Through Connecting Lines to Embrace Individual Feelings The key to the hospital art created this time is the "expression of lines."

Inspired by the "seamless care" advocated by Kitano Hospital, Medical Research Institute, the line motif was applied to the entrance of the maternity ward, the walls of the nurse station, the delivery rooms, and the neonatal visitation room.

The spaces that mothers, families, and newborns encounter during the birthing process are gently connected by soft lines, providing a comforting embrace for their respective emotions.

The Advantages of Hospital Art “Created by Students” Most of the students participating in this project are around 20 years old. Their ideas, unconstrained by experience, are highly flexible and sometimes produce fresh plans that even adults might not conceive.

Another advantage of having students as creators is that, compared to professional artists with established styles, they are more adaptable to the specific, detailed requests of the site.

Through a series of processes—including hearings and progress reports by multiple students, and presentations—we refine ideas together with medical professionals, allowing us to create art that is more "suitable for the space."

Through these initiatives, our university will continue to foster opportunities where arts education can practically contribute to solving social issues and creating public value.

About Kitano Hospital, Medical Research Institute Opened in 1928 as a medical institution combining research and clinical practice, it currently supports the region as a regional medical support hospital (685 beds) providing advanced acute care. From 2026, it will adopt the new brand message, "Creating the future through the harmony of people." It provides highly specialized medical care, covering a wide range of fields including cancer treatment, emergency medicine, and perinatal care. Leveraging its foundation as a medical research institute, it is also engaged in various clinical research projects, as well as improving the quality of medical care and human resource development. Through daily clinical practice, it provides community-based medical care and contributes to society. Location: 2-4-20 Ogimachi, Kita-ku, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture URL: https://www.kitano-hp.or.jp/

About Kyoto University of the Arts As one of the largest art universities in Japan, it is an educational institution that brings together over 23,000 ambitious students of diverse ages from both Japan and abroad across its on-campus and correspondence courses. We cultivate the skills necessary for society through art. With the educational goal of "Artistic Nation-Building," where students who have studied art change society, our on-campus courses promote arts education that emphasizes the connection between "society and art." We conduct over 100 "social implementation projects" annually, where students use the power of art and design to solve challenges faced by companies and local governments. Through group work across departments and actual professional experience, we cultivate expressive individuals equipped with social awareness. Location: 2-116 Uryuyama, Kitashirakawa, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture URL: https://www.kyoto-art.ac.jp/