Commisions

Quasares

Seville

Location: Seville
Period: 2024 - News

"We want to create a work that embodies the map of emotions that people undergoing cancer treatment go through".

For my quasars...'I'm sending you a short reflection on the quasars...celestial body that has a stellar appearance and, in the telescope, appears as a faint star. However, observed with the radio telescope, they show an energetic emission comparable to that of an entire galaxy. Quasars are the most luminous objects known in the Universe and their energy would be equivalent to that of a trillion suns. You are a quasar on earth and, like it, you emit this intense light in a selfless and altruistic way.

This letter, written on 17 November 2015 by a patient, was dedicated to the radiotherapy technicians at the Infanta Luisa Hospital in Seville. It is just one of many letters of thanks that healthcare staff, from cleaners to oncologists, have received over the years in that unit and in the oncology day unit of the Sacred Heart Hospital. Patients often refer to them as "heavenly bodies", "angels" or "beings of light".

Cancer patients navigate a sea of emotions that includes fear, anxiety, anger and uncertainty, but also tenderness, humour, care and hope. The title of this project pays tribute to this letter and to the emotional bonds that are forged in such crucial moments for the emotional management of cancer patients.

Quasares' is a cultural mediation project developed in the oncology units of the Sagrado Corazón and Infanta Luisa hospitals in Seville. Its aim is to improve the emotional care of cancer patients through a work of art and other complementary cultural resources. Quasares' seeks to highlight the transforming power of culture in the field of health and to offer a space where the emotions of the oncological process can be expressed and managed.

Throughout 2024, 'Quasares' has assembled a stable team that works under the methodological principles of Concomitentes, ensuring the diverse participation of multiple professional profiles from the health field and relying on scientific evidence that demonstrates the positive role of art and culture in health, such as the WHO report "What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being?" by Fancourt and Finn (2019).

This concomitance focuses on the "emotional geography" of the oncology patients' collective, serving as a tool to improve the emotional accompaniment and care of people suffering from cancer. In addition to the main play, 'Quasares' will produce several public devices:

A catalogue of cultural works on cancer, which will allow patients to explore emotions through various artistic manifestations.
A meeting of culture and health in 2025, which will bring together other similar projects.
A publication that will include expert essays and document the mediation process.
A documentation process that includes a short documentary, a photo essay and texts in the Concomitentes blog.

Quasares' is a project of Concomitentes and ZEMOS98The project, mediated by Felipe G. Gil, is financed by the International University of Andalusia (UNIA), Quirónsalud and the collaboration of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC). The work and materials produced will have a public service vocation and will be available to the public, making this an open source process that can be replicated in other contexts.

Photo from the National Cancer Institute USA.

PROTAGONISTS

Artists

Andrea Moran adela por dios (Adela Angulo)

Principals

Representatives from the oncology, nursing, radiology and other areas of the Sagrado Corazón and Infanta Luisa hospitals. Volunteers and workers of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC). Oncology patients at the Sagrado Corazón and Infanta Luisa Hospitals

Mediators

Felipe González Gil

Journal

08.04.2025

Illustrator adela por dios and journalist Andrea Morán join Quásares

The Quasares group of principals selects the people in charge of carrying out their commission.

19.03.2025

How a letter transformed a cultural mediation process

This is what the Quasars mediation process has been like so far.

05.02.2025

The Quasars Collection, a browsable showcase of cultural objects related to cancer, is now available.

Quásares is a participatory art project that seeks to improve the emotional care of cancer patients through cultural mediation and art, and is coordinated by Felipe G. Gil, from ZEMOS98. Among the results of this process is this catalogue, designed with the aim of connecting the emotions of cancer patients with different artistic expressions.

04.02.2025

ZEMOS98 publishes the report "The Health-Culture Interface in Spain".

The Concomitantes UCI Pediátrica and Quásares projects opened up a line of work in ZEMOS98 linked to culture and health that the collective also nurtures with research such as this one.