DEMEDARTS.Dementia.Empathy.Education.Arts. – Artistic Research on Patterns of Perception and Action
in the Context of an Aging Society
Ruth Mateus-Berr & Pia Scharler (eds.)
There are currently more than fifty-five million people
living with dementia worldwide, and nearly ten million new cases are added each year. At the same time, not only is there
a demographic increase in elderly people, ageism – a significant factor in society’s attitude to dementia – is also on the
rise. Unfortunately, there are no medical treatments yet to cure or contain dementia. Artistic research, however, offers a
means of creating a sense of well-being for those affected; it also provides education for caregivers and mindfulness for
the society.
DEMEDARTS is an arts-based research project, located at the Center for Didactics of Art and Interdisciplinary
Education of the University of Applied Arts Vienna and funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) within the PEEK program (Programm
zur Erweiterung und Erschließung der Künste); Grant-DOI: 10.55776/AR609. The project ran from February 2020 to January 2024.
With contributions by Ruth Mateus-Berr, Michaela Schober, Constantin Gröbner, Pavel Naydenov, Nargol
Gharahshir, Lara Girotto, Suza Muszler, Jasmin Schaitl, Luna Almousli, Katharina Ruf, Dietmar Flosdorf, Agnes Haider, Alexandra
Rusz, Christina Carli, Lisa Kielmeier, Pia Scharler
Ruth Mateus-Berr and Pia Scharler,
Center for Didactics of Art and Interdisciplinary Education, University of Applied Arts Vienna
