The Robert-Debré Institute for the Child’s Brain is a university hospital focused on neurodevelopmental disorders and learning disabilities in children. A 14,000-square-meter building will open its doors in 2028 on the grounds of the Robert-Debré University Hospital for the Child’s Brain. Manifesto, alongside Patrice Chazottes (ChazArt&associés), supported the Institute in defining an artistic strategy tailored to this future building.

The project laid the groundwork for an artistic initiative that takes into account the space’s daily uses, the constraints of an outpatient hospital, the diversity of the patients served, and the Institute’s scientific ambitions. It drew on interviews, a benchmark analysis, an assessment of existing artistic practices at Robert-Debré, and group workshops with stakeholders.

This work revealed several key guiding principles: avoiding a strictly decorative or recreational approach; transforming waiting and transit times into more sensory experiences; creating continuity between the historic hospital and the Institute; and building bridges between art, research, patient care, and hospital operations.

Manifesto thus helped establish a strategic framework for the art project: types of interventions, possible formats, expected functions, feasibility requirements, and key considerations. The project made it possible to define the conditions for an art project that is challenging, accessible, and compatible with the Institute’s day-to-day operations.