Video-art therapy

Since 2001, Simone Donnari introduced a videocamera into group therapy setting. The operator is one of the therapists. Digital cameras allow the operator to edit and cut the video in real-time.  They come with embedded software that offers the possibility of performing cross-fading and mixing of frames during  shooting. Thus it became possible  to make a video during the therapy session and show it to the patients immediately after. Real-time editing avoids post-production editing and. For instance, cross-fading a drawing detail with the picture of the face of its author in the video can strongly convey a  message of identity in the distancing phase. Over time, we have found that clients become accustomed to the videocamera and perceive it as an art tool, like brushes or colours. The videocamera can record images from previous therapy sessions, thus allowing cross-fading effects from bodies to drawings and images, enabling the video to become an actual visual integration between body movements and images, between the act of drawing and the resulting image.