Swedish Healthcare Company Asks Dutch Artist to Create Art with Hospital Waste

Dutch artist Maria Koijck collected the waste from her own surgery and turned it into art, asking one question to the healthcare industry: “Is there another way”? In this new campaign developed by Forsman & Bodenfors, healthcare company Mölnlycke wanted to give Maria the answer she deserved. 

When Dutch artist Maria Koijck was diagnosed with breast cancer, she had to undergo a full mastectomy. She asked her medical team to collect all the waste from her 10-hour breast reconstruction surgery, including post-op care, which resulted in the creation of an art installation. Highlighting the massive amount of surgical waste in a video, she directed a question to the healthcare industry: is there another way?

Mölnlycke Health Care, which manufactures sustainable solutions for the operating room, asked Maria Koijck if she would be willing to try to create the artwork once again, this time with their ProcedurePak solution. The result spoke for itself.

“Mölnlycke is a pioneer in sustainability, constantly working to reduce waste in the operating room,” says Mikael Olsson, global marketing communication and brand manager ORS at Mölnlycke Health Care. “We welcome and embrace partnerships with all sectors in society as we truly believe that collaborations across traditional boundaries are an effective and exciting way to drive innovation”.

Together with Forsman & Bodenfors, Mölnlycke and Maria Koijck recreated the artwork, demonstrating that up to 90% of packaging waste, one of the biggest contributors to waste in operating rooms, can be reduced. This is the first campaign in the collaboration between Forsman & Bodenfors and Mölnlycke Health Care.

”When researching for this project, we came across Maria’s incredible film. Watching it, we instantly felt we wanted to answer her question, as a way to let her and the healthcare industry know about Mölnlycke’s solution. Sometimes an opportunity presents itself, that you know you just need to seize, or you will regret it. So we did,” says Sanna Rosén, creative at Forsman & Bodenfors. 

The campaign will launch across Europe. In addition to the hero film covering the making of the artwork, the campaign also includes key visuals, social media assets, banners, and native articles.