#DesignForMSK: the Invisible (Visible)
Design for MSK: The Invisible (Visible) was a pop-up exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery in December 2016, exploring how small differences, led by design, can improve the lives of young sufferers of musculoskeletal diseases and ease the burden caused by the in/visibility of such conditions. By bringing together patients and product designers who are focused on ‘patient experience’, the intention was to offer some considered, alternative solutions to currently flawed/imperfect aides.
The exhibition showcased products that had been designed to facilitate the lives of people who suffer from musculoskeletal diseases. The designer’s intentions ultimately were to ‘play-down’ the 'clinical' appearance of the products, to reinvent them and improve their aesthetic, whilst continuing to maintain the practicality of the products in order to contribute to the wellbeing of the patient.
These products were exhibited alongside the work of visual artists who had responded to the exhibition themes of in/visibility and illness, whilst presenting a more conceptual yet deeply personal narrative on the effects of chronic illness and pain. We hope that by creating a visibility for musculoskeletal disease, we can go some way towards removing the associated stigma of these conditions and create a new dialogue out of the relational experience of illness.
Bryony Ellis - 'Trigger Points'
Will Steiner - 'Pain' and 'Relief'