Reimagining Mental Health Through Collective Practice: Rockbund's Late Summer School Returns

Institutional Psychotherapy Meets Contemporary Art Practice

The concept of asylum has long held contradictory meanings: sanctuary and treatment, refuge and cure. Similarly, alienation encompasses both psychological separation and material disidentification. These dualities form the foundation of Rockbund Art Museum's Late Summer School 2026, which takes place in Shanghai from August 24-28.

The programme draws inspiration from Catalan psychoanalyst Francesc Tosquelles, who in the 1930s observed that institutions themselves could either perpetuate or resolve alienation. His work at Saint-Alban hospital in southern France pioneered what became known as 'institutional psychotherapy' – the idea that spaces could be transformed to help individuals unlearn social and political conditioning, achieving what he termed 'disalienation'.

A Shanghai-Based Investigation

Organised by Parapraxis with curatorial direction from Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung, the five-day intensive invites thirty participants to engage in what the museum describes as a 'group experiment'. Rather than traditional academic instruction, attendees will collectively manage a temporary community while exploring sites significant to Shanghai's mental health history.

These include visits to the historic Shanghai Mercy Hospital, China's first art gallery situated within a mental health institution (No. 600), and residences of May Fourth-era writers whose literary output engaged with psychoanalytic thought. The integration of historical locations with contemporary practice reflects the school's broader mission of connecting past and present modes of collective understanding.

Two-Stream Curriculum

Each day follows a structured format combining large group meetings with rotating smaller task groups. The morning gatherings function as process groups, examining group dynamics as they emerge in real-time rather than as therapeutic sessions. Facilitators Francisco J. González and Amy R. Wong will guide participants through these observational exercises.

The afternoon task groups offer distinct approaches to collective work. One stream, led by Perwana Nazif and Geoffrey G. O'Brien, focuses on aesthetic practice and non-verbal communication, drawing from institutional psychotherapy's ergotherapy workshops. Participants will engage in hands-on construction activities including knot-making and mobius strip experiments to explore expressive possibilities beyond language.

The second task group, under Wendy Lotterman, Hannah Zeavin, and Dora Zhang, revives the tradition of asylum newspapers – a practice employed by Tosquelles at Saint-Alban, Frantz Fanon at Blida, and Jean Oury with Félix Guattari at La Borde. This collective publication will feature participant reflections, poetry, artwork, and mutual interviews.

Faculty and Public Engagement

The faculty brings together diverse expertise spanning psychoanalysis, literature, and visual arts. Throughout the week, participants will encounter lectures on silence as tactic, language and non-language, and community mental health histories. A public lecture on August 27 by Amy R. Wong will examine Freud's concept of 'quiescence' in relation to China's modernity, followed by discussion with Eugene Yiu Nam Cheung and X Zhu-Nowell.

Call for Applications

The programme welcomes applicants from varied backgrounds: artists, writers, scholars, educators, and those with lived experience of mental health conditions. Particular encouragement is extended to disabled and neurodivergent individuals. Applications, including CV and motivation letter, should be submitted by July 27 to eugeneyiunam.cheung@rockbundartmuseum.org.

With a tuition fee of ¥420 and limited capacity, the school represents a distinctive model of art education that prioritises collective experimentation over individual achievement. Selected participants will be notified by August 3.

This iteration continues Rockbund's Late Summer School initiative launched in 2024 by X Zhu-Nowell, which has previously examined artistic research, popular music, cinema, and literature through collaborative study formats.