Since 2018, the Research and Treatment Centre for Mental Health (FBZ) of the Ruhr-University Bochum has awarded an annual art prize of up to € 10,000 – the "FBZ art award". The interplay between psyche, art and health fulfils an important function for the FBZ's psychotherapy concept. Over 4,000 children, adolescents and adults with mental disorders are treated here every year, which means that the FBZ plays an important role in the care of people with mental health problems in Bochum and the entire Ruhr area. It is a particular concern of the FBZ to offer scientifically based psychotherapy in a context that appreciates people with mental disorders and does justice to their sensitivities. 

  
The "FBZ art award" is intended to provide precisely this context by looking for artworks on the subject of mental health to be exhibited in the day-to-day running of the centre. This is seen as an important element in the success of the psychotherapy centre. In a multi-stage process, the jury, consisting of the directorate of the FBZ, a representative of the psychotherapy outpatient clinic management of the FBZ and two art experts, first selects a shortlist and then the winning artwork. By offering both unknown and well-known artists a new methodological context, the art prize opens the institution up to a destigmatization of psychotherapy. The connection with the Institute of Art History at the RuhrUniversity Bochum is an important feature of this art prize. Participants who have made it onto the shortlist will exhibit their works of art for two months at the FBZ. The prize will be awarded during the exhibition period. Following the exhibition and award ceremony, the FBZ will add the honoured artwork to its collection.

The art prize consists of prize money of up to € 10,000 and an exhibition at the FBZ, followed by the addition of the prize-winning artwork to the FBZ collection. The prize money is expected to go to one single prize winner; in exceptional cases, the prize money may be split. The prize money does not have to match the price of the artwork.

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Ruhr-Universität Bochum