For Slow Art Day 2025, St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia hosted its fourth Slow Art Day, continuing its thoughtful integration of art into healthcare settings. Led by Art Curator, Monique Silk, this year’s event was titled The Slow Art of Landscape: Observing and Transforming the Art of Nina Ryan.
The program centered on the current exhibition of landscape paintings by Melbourne artist Nina Ryan, including:
Nina Ryan, Paddocks (2017), oil on canvas, 62 x 87 cmNina Ryan, The Road Less Travelled (2024), oil on board, 50 x 49 cmNina Ryan, Southern Aspect (2020), oil on linen, 78 x 89 cm
Participants, including staff, patients, and members of the wider community, were invited to select a painting, spend time observing it slowly, and then create their own image by transforming cut-out photocopied squares of the original artwork into new compositions. The resulting collages reflected personal interpretation, creative play, and deep engagement with Ryan’s landscapes.
Participant slow-making. Photo by Monique Silk.Participant slow-making. Photo by Monique Silk.Participant slow-making. Photo by Monique Silk.
Beyond the gallery, the Slow Art Day spirit extended across other campuses. A flyer invited patients to engage in slow looking wherever art was present, in foyers, corridors, courtyards, and even views from hospital windows. The gentle prompts encouraged participants to look, observe, feel, and share. As described in the hospital’s materials, Slow Art requires nothing more than one’s presence and attention — there is no right or wrong way to respond Flyer Slow Art 2025 St Vincents….
At Caritas Christi Palliative Care Hospice, a Slow Art Station was set up in the creative arts room, offering Slow Art card resources and a quiet space for reflection. We at Slow Art Day HQ are deeply touched by this extension into palliative care settings. Wow. We hope that more hospitals and hospices follow St. Vincent’s lead.
Slow Art Station at CCPC. Photos by Monique Silk.
We are inspired by how St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne adapts Slow Art Day to the rhythms of hospital, and hospice, life — offering patients, staff, and visitors an opportunity to pause, reflect, and transform experience through art. We look forward to seeing how they continue to grow this program in 2026.
In 2025, Mexico City hosted its first city-wide Slow Art Day – and what may be the largest city-wide in the world – with 35 participating venues, coordinated by art writer and cultural organizer Constanza Ontiveros Valdés.
Ontiveros Valdés organized an unexpectedly wide range of participants, from established museums and galleries to alternative and emerging cultural spaces across the city.
The venues offered a rich mix of programming, including yoga, meditation, aromatherapy, workshops, panel discussions, and multidisciplinary artistic happenings. She noted that the accessibility and inclusiveness of Slow Art Day encouraged participation across diverse spaces, all eager to explore slow looking in ways that felt authentic to their communities.
We received reports from seven of the 35. Below are those highlights.
Galería Oscar Román featured an artist-led conversation titled “Sombras del Pintor” (Shadows of the Painter) with artist Saúl Kaminer, followed by a guided visit to his exhibition “La Tierra en el Cielo” (The Earth in the Sky). Kaminer shared insights into his creative process and the narratives behind his work, inviting participants to engage slowly through conversation and close observation. The session encouraged reflection on the relationship between art and nature, with visitors spending extended time discussing individual works.
Arte Abierto Reported by: Guadalupe Salcedo, Communications
Arte Abierto‘s Public Programs Team designed a Slow Art Day experience around the exhibition long last happy by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone. Participants engaged in contemplative observation of the large format sculptures the sun and the moon (2022), followed by individual and group body activations inspired by dance and performance. The program invited participants to explore the idea of opposing forces through both stillness and body movement. Adults and children took part, and the event received significant public and media engagement.
Host: Constanza Ontiveros Valdés, Art Writer and Cultural Projects Coordinator Venue contact: Julia Villaseñor, Communications and Media Director
At kurimanzutto, participants were introduced to Slow Art Day through breathing and relaxation exercises before engaging in close looking with works by Haegue Yang from the exhibition Arcane Abstractions. The group explored intricate paper collages from the Mesmerizing Mesh series and interacted physically with the sculptural installation Mesmerizing Votive Pagoda Lantern. The session concluded with a hands-on activity in which participants created visual responses to their observations and shared reflections.
Natalia Martinez Aanaya, Communications Manager shared that Alejandra Topete Gallery participated with Between Threads and Stories, featuring works by Jason Kriegler and Claribel Calderius. The program included individual meditation sessions throughout the day and an empowering roundtable discussion led by Maria Ortiz, Cultural Mediator. Visitors were encouraged to form personal connections with the artworks through guided dialogue and slow observation.
Naranjo 141 gathered participants to look slowly at five selected works from their current exhibition. The session began with a brief introduction to Slow Art Day and the gallery’s residency program. Visitors then spent six to seven minutes in silent observation with each of five selected works:
Lily Alice Baker, Mothers’ Meeting (2024)
Colleen Herman, Blood Bloom in a Blue Field (2024)
Lee Maxey, Face the Front (2024)
Kataria Riesing, Holster (2024)
Pauline Shaw, Blackout (2025)
After slow looking, participants came together for a facilitated group discussion, sharing observations and personal responses over light refreshments. The session concluded with informal conversation and continued engagement with the exhibition.
Lee Maxey, Face the Front (2024)Lily Alice Baker, Mothers’ Meeting (2024)
Tinta Naranja focused on close observation of graphic design and visual culture. Participants explored original materials related to the Mexico 1968 Olympic design system, discussing the origins and historical context of the typography and imagery. The session concluded with a participatory activity in which attendees designed their own names using Olympic-inspired typographic forms.
Zona de Riesgo Art hosted a free evening program that combined slow looking, guided meditation, sound art, and collective reflection. The event opened with a brief introduction, then featured two guided meditative experiences led by artist Mónica Martz M.
The first, Realm of the Devas, combined guided meditation with sound art by Bruno Bresani and the projection of two visual works by Mónica Martz M.
After a short pause, Mónica Martz M. led a second meditation that explored The Human Realm, accompanied by sound art from Mercedes Balard and Montserrat Coltello, alongside projected works by Bruno Bresani.
Following the meditations, participants gathered for an open conversation, sharing sensations, images, and reflections that emerged during the experience. The evening concluded with expressions of gratitude among artists and attendees, highlighting the value of creating spaces for stillness, contemplation, and shared presence.
Together, these seven reports represent just a portion of the 35 venues that participated in Mexico City’s first citywide Slow Art Day. The range of formats—artist talks, guided observation, movement-based practices, meditation, and slow making—demonstrates how Slow Art Day can scale across a major global city while remaining grounded in local artistic practice. Check out a great article summarizing the day (in Spanish).
We thank Constanza Ontiveros Valdés for her leadership and all participating venues, artists, facilitators, and visitors for making this inaugural citywide Slow Art Day possible. We look forward to seeing what they come up with for Slow Art Day 2026.
