Fleeting Moments by Hans Clausen

These porcelain artefacts were created by visitors, patients and staff in hospitals across Edinburgh, particularly the ‘old Sick Kids hospital’. The artists invited people to pause, place a ball of soft white porcelain in their hand, take a breath, and squeeze. The shapes were fired in a kiln, preserving forever the imprint of the space inside each hand. These little ‘sculptures’ have lots in common, yet all are unique, each one representing a person in that particular moment.

A hospital community consists of many different people, there for multiple reasons; patients, nurses, visitors, surgeons, physiotherapists, porters, volunteers, medics, office staff, maintenance staff… the sick, the well, children, adults, newborn babies, passersby. Each holding their individual stories, experiences, feelings and hopes.

In the middle of a hectic hospital environment with its hustle and bustle, emergencies and routines; people were invited to pause and reflect. The result is hundreds of unique porcelain ‘fleeting moments’, a community captured in time, a time captured in porcelain. They offer us an opportunity to slow down, to reflect, to look back and look forward.

The artwork was created during an artists’ residency, commissioned by NHS Lothian Charity: Tonic Arts and managed by Ginkgo Projects. The project was part of Beyond Walls, an art and therapeutic design programme which marked the transition from the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People and the Department of Clinical Neurosciences from their original sites at Sciennes and the Western General Hospital to their new home here at Little France.