A hospital is traditionally a space where we confront our deepest fears and physical vulnerabilities. But beginning month, the historic St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles has been transformed. Before the building transitions into the St. Vincent Behavioral Health Campus, it will serve as the canvas for Hospital of Emotions, a large-scale, immersive pop-up exhibition. Spanning four floors and 80 rooms, the exhibition, which opens Saturday, shifts the focus from treating the physical body to processing the full spectrum of human feeling.
While the exhibition features more than 70 artists from diverse disciplines, some of the most striking transformations come from veterans of the film and television industry. Tasked with a single directive — create an environment around a specific human emotion — these visual effects editors, set designers and fabricators have applied their mastery of cinematic world-building to physical, explorable spaces.
The cinematic depth of the exhibition is driven by a group of industry professionals who have traded traditional soundstages for the physical rooms of the hospital, using their production backgrounds to craft 360-degree narrative environments. Visual effects editor Paal Anand uses cinematic imagery and immersive storytelling to explore the haunting psychological weight of PTSD, while UK-based animator and artist Pablo Thomas blends animation and memory to build a world centered on emotional storytelling.
The physical and tactile elements of the show are anchored by fabricator, designer and producer David (DAK) Knudsen, who constructed a blacklight-reactive survivalist bunker to represent resilience, alongside art director and prop designer Jeremy Wojchihosky, who leverages sculptural limbs and sharp spatial tension to evoke frustration and helplessness. Bringing theatrical scale to the space, the set designers of the Scene Shift Collective fabricated an immersive jellyfish environment to explore compassion and collective survival, while FX makeup artist Tara Rey applies practical effects, cinematic illusion and visual transformation to turn the abstract weight of sadness into a dreamlike, physical reality.
Scroll down to view images from the exhibitions.
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 77 – ‘Fear’ by Kamil Czapiga cosmodernism Room
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 12 – ‘Joy’ by Yaara Sachs
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 30 – ‘Sadness’ by Tommii Lim
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 31 – ‘Sadness’ by Tara Rey
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 62 – Compassion’ by Scene Shift Collective
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 60 – ‘Anger’ by Sayoko Osada
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 66 – ‘Love’ by Santa Gross
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 40 – ‘Joy’ by Oshri Elmorich Krisia and KIKI Powell
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 16 – ‘Resilience’ by Olivia Barrionuevo-Minkin
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 51 ‘Compassion’ by Napo
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 26 ‘Sadness’ by Maryam Trebeau
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 60 – ‘Compassion’ by Mark Girgis
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 41 – ‘Joy’ by Mariell Guzman Inzunza
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 21 – ‘Resilience’ by Margui
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 23 ‘Resilience’ by Madeline Verbica
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 27 – ‘Sadness’ by Kim Farbota
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 68 – ‘Love’ by Kara Greenwell
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room7 – ‘Joy’ by Javiera Estrada
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 73 – ‘Fear’ by Grisha Stepanian
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 39 – ‘Joy’ by Gil Hayun
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 67 – ‘Love’ by Elif Sezgin
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 78 – ‘Fear’ by Dongpu Ling
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 20 – ‘Fear’ by Dioz
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 5 – ‘Resilience’ by David Otis Johnson
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 25 – ‘Sadness’ by Caratoes
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 19 ‘Compassion’ by Auzepy Nathalie
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 33 – ‘Hope’ by Alex Kemp
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 28 – ‘Sadness’ by Pablo Thomas
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 49 – ‘Compassion’ by Moran Sanderovich
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 2 – ‘Resilience’ by Monica Loss
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 57 ‘Hope’ by Michelle Lougee
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 1 – ‘Resilience’ by Jonathan Elkies
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 55 – Hope by ‘Greg Corbino’
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 6 – ‘Resilience’ by Anna Matsumoto & Bhumikorn Kongtaveelert
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 53 – ‘Hope’ by Corrie_Sullivan
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 18 ‘Resilience’ by Melan Allen
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 29 – ‘Sadness’ by Heriberto Gomes heri
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 11 – ‘Joy’ by Lisa Waud
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 61 – ‘Compassion’ by Ginger Pearson
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 17 – ‘Resilience’ by Allison Reber
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Hospital of Emotions LA – Art Exhibition Los Angeles
Image Credit: Hospital Of Emotions Room 54 – ‘Hope’ by ITS A LIVING