HEarts network – arts and culture in medical education
The Teaching and Learning Unit runs the HEarts - Health Education Arts network at Karolinska Institutet. We bring together employees from several different departments and organisations at KI to explore how art, culture and the humanities can be integrated into our curricula to improve teaching and learning.
The intersection of the humanities and healthcare education opens up opportunities for more holistic and empathetic methods of training future healthcare professionals. By visiting various exhibitions and performances, the network introduces you to different forms of art and the humanities. The network organises 2-3 HEarts events each semester where we explore different forms of culture and how these can be integrated as methods for education.
This network is aimed at those who are curious and want to discover new and alternative elements in teaching. It doesn't matter what background or previous knowledge you have, everyone is welcome.
HEarts spring program 2026
May 21
Home is where the HEarts is
It has been a year since we started HEarts with our first activity in May 2025, where we visited the GSA art gallery. Since then, we have walked around Djurgården to see Princess Estelle's Sculpture park, visited Saskia Neuman art gallery, two theatre performances, and our latest activity at the Modern Dance Theatre.
It is time to meet closer to home at Karolinska Institutet for our final event of this semester Home is where the HEart is.
Now is a good opportunity to come together to discuss our experiences, how these relate to teaching and learning, and to discuss future activities.
We would also like to invite participants in the network to give a short presentation on work relating to culture and learning at KI. It can be your own art, music, photographs, or examples of how you use culture, art, and humanities in your teaching. Please feel free to register such presentations in the registration link, and they should be no longer than 10 minutes.
When: 21 May
Time: 16:00–18:00
Where: Torget, KIB Solna
Previous events
Dance performance: Deep Leap
Deep Leap invites the audience into a choreographed soundscape where movement and sound merge into a sensual, ever-changing atmosphere. With microphones attached to their bodies and a responsive technical system that captures the dancers’ movements, the dancers modulate and generate the soundscape in real time.
Following the dance performance at Modern Dansteatern on Skeppsholmen, the participants were invited to a follow-up conversation on Zoom to discuss and reflect on the performance.
Theatre: "Göra Rätt"
We visited the Ö2 Theatre and watched the play Göra Rätt together, exploring how theatre can be used in teaching and education.
A few days after the performance, everyone was invited to a Zoom meeting for a reflective discussion about the performance, methods of analysis, and what theatre can teach us about the art of teaching.
Gallery Exhibition: Collecting Shells
We visited Saskia Neuman Gallery and the exhibition Collecting shells by Tobias Bradford. After in introduction to the exhibition the participants were asked to reflect on how one of the art pieces could relate to their research, teaching or other work at KI.
Theatre: Hela världens recept
What can we gather from theatrical practice to enrich and evolve our own approaches to teaching and learning?
Our theatre event consisted of three parts.
- Pre-Zoom Session: "Performance Analysis"
This introductory session introduced the principles of performance analysis, rooted in semiotic theory. Within the theatrical realm, concepts such as text, scenography, costume/mask, choreography, lighting, sound, and the aesthetics of acting are of central importance. By adopting theatre’s analytical lens, we aimed to deepen our pedagogical reflections and practices. - Theatre Performance: Hela världens recept
We attended a live performance of Hela världens recept at Teater Galeasen at Skeppsholmen. - Post-Zoom Session: Reflections and Insights
We reconvened for a reflective discussion on the performance itself, methods of analysis, and what theatre might teach us about the art of teaching.
Princess Estelle's Sculpture Park
Public art and sculpture: Can it help us improve learning in healthcare education? We visited Princess Estelle's Sculpture Park on Djurgården and were guided by the director herself, Dr Sara Sandström. Sandström was recently named the third most powerful person in the Swedish contemporary art scene and, together with HRH Prince Daniel, is the founder of this new sculpture park.
During the event, sculptures were analysed, and an introduction to the six permanent works of art in the park was given, which were created by well-known contemporary international artists.
GSA Art Gallery
During this meeting, we explored how contemporary painting and sculpture can inspire our teaching and our students' learning. Jonas Nordquist taught us the basics of image analysis when we visited the GSA Gallery.