“Nationalmuseum x DNP Museum Lab” is a joint project between the Nationalmuseum(Sweden's Museum of Art and Design) and Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. (DNP).
It mainly involves the implementation and diffusion of workshops using a unique approach to art appreciation called “Art Reflection Method (ARM).”
Participants in ARM workshops are invited to focus on how they “feel” when they see artworks and describe that feeling in their own words by interacting with the facilitator and group mates. This process helps them experience the joy of art appreciation and discover the artworks’ new allure.

From the COVID-19 pandemic to the unsettled social climate, many elements have emerged to affect the social links and communication between people of all ages, including seniors. Establishing better relationships between people, local communities, and art museums would help to address the situation. Offered to all generations via both online and offline channels, the workshop opportunities are expected to “create social ties through art appreciation” and “generate positive effects on people’s minds and brains to achieve well-being through sharing and empathy.”

The project has been developed from the interactive art appreciation program of “Ateneum Museum/Finish National Gallery x DNP Museum Lab” (2017-2019) which, based on an introspective approach and method co-developed by DNP and Prof. Hideaki Kawabata’s lab in the Keio University, sought to leverage the positive effect of art on the elderly people’s emotion and memories to achieve an “art appreciation for well-being” in a super-aging society.