It is quite common to divide people into ‘us’ and ‘them’ in everyday life. Terms such as “psychiatric hospital”, “person with mental health disorders” sound often to people as something they should avoid, disagree with, and limit themselves while around it. One thing is clear – stigma in the perception of mental health is present. Having memorized the phrase, that I had read in the introductory speech to the podcast “Ai, viskas gerai” (that was published on Spotify on October 21 of this year: “<…> every second person experiences mental disorders during their lifetime, <…> we know too little about disorders to be together and help each other to be, work and heal.” In the same podcast, the principal of the Republican Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital, Arūnas Germanavičius, states that “<…> we underestimate the threat posed by alcoholism, but overestimate the threat posed by schizophrenia. And because of that, we have a lot of unfathomable fears. <…>” Another line – spaces where patients are treated, political and economic challenges related to the typology of the building within the country policies and regulations. In 2023 The Republican Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital will celebrate its 130th anniversary. The essential spaces of the building, apart from the destruction of several parts during the WW, have not changed fundamentally. However, the science of psychiatry was changing rapidly, undergoing radical moves within understanding and naming within certain diagnosis and treatment methods. Last year, in Evelina’s Master’s thesis of architecture, defended at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Evelina examined the possibilities for changes in RVPL, which could more comfortably accommodate the current approach to psychiatry. These workshops are a continuation of this journey.

Community workshop…

goal: to experience communion, to reach manifestations of pure being, to feel dignified for all participants, to reduce the prevailing stigmas related to mental health in society, to get to know the hospital spaces;

participants: 33 people (10 people from outside, 14 RVPL patients, 9 RVPL staff);

tools: Contracts, hospital space – reading room, empathy, reflection, sensitivity to the environment, cupcakes and marshmallows (ordered from the hospital canteen);

rules: The invitation stated that everyone with a variety of feelings or states is welcome: sad, happy, searching or lost. The request not to wear distinguishing work clothes (white robes) during initiated activity was heard by many visiting doctors but ignored by some nurses. Due to the prevailing personal protection laws and other internal rules, it was not possible to receive publicly accessible feedback about the event from patients. After the event, the oral experiences of those who participated in the workshop act as advocates for patients whose voice is currently not publicly available. It is important to notice, that the strength of advocacy is the same as the amount of empathy, ability to reflect, and sensitivity of the observer;

everyone – RVPL community, people from outside, faced inconveniences at the event (space, situation, people). The wave of chanting of the Lithuanian multipart songs somewhat uncomfortably threw everyone into confusion, washed away all the masks they had brought/created and united the community for contemplation;

call: Invitation to the event distributed on social media and in various departments in the hospital:

Original invitation:

“Architect and artist Evelina Bartusevičiūtė, a participant of the Architecture Fund Experiments Platform, in her artistic research projects “Avoidless Communities” and “Avoidless Architecture” examines the issues of relational aesthetics and spatial politics, invites you to the workshops of Lithuanian multipart songs meditation, reflection and community formation in the reading room of the Republican Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital. Evelina is looking for events/processes from the present and the past that would help a person of the present to sustainably create a relationship with himself, others and the environment. Thinking about the broken social fabric of the country and the general context of world events, she thinks that we lack the experiences or the beginnings of a sustainable, sincere community like never before. Virginija Masalskienė will help us to get into multipart songs. During singing, we will try to feel ourselves, open up to those around us, and at the same time keep our own voices. Multipart songs are reminiscent of mantras, which, by constantly repeating, open up new living spaces. During the meeting, we will try to get acquainted with their various singing techniques: triple, binary, and quadruple. After songs with tea and delicacies together with Eglė Masalskienė – a psychologist, and teacher of the “mindfulness” method, who specializes in the field of emotional management, we will discuss the effects of singing together and the feelings that arose. Members of the general public and hospital community are invited. People who think they can’t sing, even those who don’t want to sing! Happy, sad, searching, and lost. Everyone is invited. The event is free of charge.”
(Link to an invitation for the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/626308462329027 )

Feedback about the event:

Arūnas Germanavičius – the principal of Republican Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital

“The event was very interesting, I was not new to singing traditional songs, but it resonated in a completely new context.

I have been interested in folklore, especially Baltic songs, for more than 20 years. During my studies at Vilnius University, I sang in the choir of the Song and Dance Ensemble.

While studying in the psychiatry residency and later in the psychotherapy program of the

C.G. Jung Institute of Analytical Psychology, we studied many examples of the old Lithuanian archetypal culture, including singing. Multipart songs, chants, and other ancient forms of chanting have their own healing power, which we so-called modern people have forgotten. As well as various rituals that were accompanied by chants.

The seminar started nicely with a short introduction. However, the first attempt to sing was, in my opinion, unsuccessful, because the leader started with the singing of the trinity but did not explain exactly when the second and third groups would have to join, and the words were archaic, unheard even by Lithuanian speakers (some of the patients and employees of RVPL, after all, are Russian speakers, it was even more difficult for them to understand what was being sung). After about 10-15 min many attempts to sing in three groups,, the participants fell silent, there was no harmony, and several hospital patients, possibly experiencing the pain of failure, “fell out” of the circle, some sat down and stopped singing, while others left altogether. I think that this was a very important moment for the leaders, when in an unstructured and self-sustaining task, the most vulnerable “fall out”, whom they were unable to integrate back into the circle.

It’s good that the event was saved when the presenters proposed plan B, and offered to sing a simpler multipart song. Before that, more time was devoted to explaining what and how we would sing. When the participants felt that they succeeded, they plunged into meditative chanting, it was very powerful. Everyone sang together: hospital staff, patients, and participants from the outside of hospital community.

I think that such events can be repeated in the future, but much more attention should be paid to the detailed explanation of how and what to sing. The presenters could also demonstrate exemplary singing.”

Virginija Masalskienė – multipart songs leader for the workshop

“For the first time, I conducted multipart songs in a hospital, I did not even know what to expect. People started to come. The large number of people who came sent one message: “We really need it.” The multipart songs were moving slowly. Naturally, it is a tradition that requires attention and concentration, but when you see the seniors swaying to the rhythm and realize that they have “caught it”, it is calmer. Perhaps the greatest thanks came from the words: “It seems like this is the state you should be in.” I brought home a lot of ideas. Next time I would like a smaller crowd so I can give more personal attention. Even with completely simple singing exercises, you can get the states in which you should live. To live in such a way that you accept everyone as they are.”

External participants:

1) Dovilė Ratkutė

“The first sensations upon entering the building from the park of the complex are the seriousness of the spaces and the smell of medications.

The visitors to the building were the first to gather in the half-empty auditorium. After some time, the room began to fill up with hospital patients and employees. Patients were brought in in groups, and their belonging to this institution was indicated by their feet covered in slippers and their house clothes or white robes. The first ones began to sound light joyful conversations about sweets and tea, then about the event. I felt the separation of groups quite clearly, not between patients and healthy people, but between two different communities – the architecture and the permanent users of the building. The latter seems to have been disturbed by the non-compliance with routines and norms in this space.

As we stopped in a circle, the two separate communities merged into one mass, except for the two nurses who leaned against the columns, cutting themselves off from the action in the space.

The first unifying point for me was the general confusion and mistakes, the connections of lost eyes, trying to understand the structure and words of the multipart songs, and the emotions arising from not being able to repeat the received references.

The second point: as the rhythm of the song became smoother, both the body began to relax, those and my role brought from outside the walls of the building, the ego melted into the pulsation of the song.

Feeling more and more natural both in the song and in the group, my focus began to spread from the singing performance to the reactions and feelings of the individuals in the group. I started to want to get involved in the process more, to sing more clearly and louder – to create an environment where it is easier for those who are less confident in their voice to join the common sound.”

2) Marija Stonytė

“Unintelligible lines, from the daily life of ancient Lithuanians, put into action. Now. In this meeting room at RVPL library. With each attempt, they sound stronger on everyone’s lips. Each time more alive, more real, more rhythmic. Real smiles, feelings, and expressions began to appear on the faces of many. In the physical space of the hospital, there were created something more than multipart singing, a new experiential quality – connection.

The same space has become open and safe, inviting the participants to choose: how do I want to be here? The most important element becomes – the intention for the space, guiding the participants towards an ideological vision. In this way, the physical space can be transformed without material resources, even the taking off of robes can do so much. A collective action initiates a change in the collective state of which we are a part on an ongoing basis.”

3) A person who wished to remain anonymous

” I think, as you said in your observation at the end of the session, that everything was and felt like a natural process, just like in life. At first, I really felt a bit of tension being in that environment and among the patients, I did not know what to expect, or how to feel. Maybe because I have been there before after visiting my father in a psychiatric hospital for a while, among the patients, that period was not associated with very pleasant experiences either, it seems to me that my body still remembers it, although I did not expect it – naturally, a little tension came over me, somehow I could not feel that I was just an outsider, I felt like I was responsible for patients, so that everything would work out, everyone would feel good. Only at the end, when all the patients and the other gathered people had become more empathetic – those who wanted to and could be there stayed, I was able to be a little easier and relax and really be in the community.”

4) Marius Lukošiūnas

“I did not know exactly what was going to happen, I just saw that Evelina was organizing and participating in the Architectural Fund Experimental Platform – that was enough to understand that it would be good. And it was:) The further I go, the more architecture seems to be about commonalities and connections, not about bricks. That is why workshops like this and those close to you, it is very nice what Evelina is doing. Little by little, open that page full of empathy, care, and sensitivity for the architectural community and the hospital. About the meeting: now I’m thinking maybe the introduction could have been longer, not only the name, but also what kind of hobby to say or some other form game, or maybe a little more just chatting or just listening to sounds/music. Well, what kind of warm-up to begin with… Maybe the singing lasted quite long, but in general – I enjoyed it very much:) In summary – there should be more meetings like this!”

5) Neringa Kuraitė

“A few years ago I studied interior design, I am interested in psychology and art

therapy, so for me, this event sounded like an invitation to connect these things 🙂 I support such events that invite us to join them no matter what we feel and who we are, without any preconceived notions. Without masks and without white hospital robes. Just to hang out, to share. Thanks to Evelina for the organization and the curious look of the researcher – I hope there will be more similar initiatives. “

6) A person who wished to remain anonymous

“I was thinking about what I would bring to the meeting… Some knowledge, contribution, etc. prepares the ground for the meeting. This time was a white sheet.

Upon entering, I was greeted by the smell of a hospital/pharmacy, but I really liked those arrows leading to the venue – they are interesting, I wish they would lead like this for half an hour or more…:)

It looked like there will be very few people when I come, but it is great when they have gathered completely.

I really liked it when opened windows, useful for airing the room, started to knock – an unexpected scenographic element, a dramaturgical coincidence. I enjoyed watching from above (being in the library on the 3rd floor, through the windows of which you can see the main entrance of RVPL’s outdoor access) the people coming to the hospital – also a good situation.

The presentation of mindfulness was quite nice, it didn’t go ‘in-depth’, but there was no rejection reaction to the unpleasant ‘selfhelp’.

It was rather funny to watch the leader of multipart singing, even though she is the ‘bringer of communion’, she actually brought not only communion but chaos also. It is very interesting if you invite other leaders of community forming workshops and ‘outsource’ the creation of communion and see how others do it.

I liked something about the personal connection with what we did – when the stories about growing up in Dzūkija, etc. started to come out. If this is the goal – one can think about what is this needle that opens each person’s bag. A very orderly meeting, it’s interesting to bond with the patient, it’s mutually important.”

7) A person who wished to remain anonymous

“I did not want to share all my feelings while being in workshop, but I thought of writing. The hospital space itself restricted me and did not invite me to be open. The environment created the feeling of a school or other restricted space. And the tea made me feel a little better. It was not possible for me to feel cozy or comfortable at the event, but I liked it anyway. To listen when you shared the idea that this event is about getting out of roles, trying to meet everyone on the same level. Although I did not feel completely comfortable as a participant, it was curious and interesting to present the hospital space and try to get closer to the gathered people through joint activities.

Thanks for the experience! I feel that such experiences are meaningful :)”