A couple of weeks ago, our Exhibitions Co-ordinator Lauren Currie attended the 2×2 FORUM For Outsider Art 2011 in Munster. Here is what she had to say about it.
The Kunsthaus Kannen hosted a four day long art fair and symposium with twenty two organisations from thirteen European countries invited to exhibit and take part in various discussions. Dominating the discussions was the topic of outsider art; its place in contemporary art and its shifting set of values.
At the fair, each organisation was given an exhibition space of 2x2m. Some opted for a traditional art fair layout but others used the space to present impressive installations with the P28 Art Project, Portugal presenting a large drawing installation of exquisite detail extending onto the floor. The beautiful woodcuts of the Atelier de la Tour, Austria, also stood out as intriguing works with deeply carved dense fretted patterns. On the whole, it was a great exhibition filled with mysterious and peculiar things – objects reminiscent of folklore or magic to more traditional painting and gestural ceramic objects placing 2×2 outside the conventional canons of an art fair. The concept of the fair itself, 2×2, suggests a doubling, a multiplication that is representative of the two fold nature of outsider art and how it is made; that it often requires the help of another, whether that be through promotion, the physical making of the work or the support required to develop artistic practice. Art promotes diverse forms of communication and the event was an opportunity to explore the developments in outsider art that have taken place around Europe with lots of different opinions. The history of perception of art by people with disabilities remains very complex; it seems to be a constant struggle for the correct terminology, for the work to be seen by wider audiences and to be understood. The Kunstaus Kannen, with its links to the Alexanier hospital takes form of a part refuge/part studio for the patients who work there.
During the forum, a lot was discussed about bringing outsider art into the mainstream by developing collaborations in a quest to better understand outsider art's ability to engage with contemporary art movements and audiences. The term outsider art is an English synonym for art brut, used to describe art created outside the boundaries of mainstream culture. Typically, those labelled as outsider artists have little or no contact with the mainstream art world or its established institutions. Unlike any other way we define the various kinds of practices in art history, the term outsider art offers no more than a signpost; it doesn’t nod to a particular style or aesthetic but to a different place. The distinctions between outsider and contemporary art are that the artists who are seen as outsiders are not always viewed with the same critical rigour as contemporary artists working today. What the exhibition 2×2 shows, is that what they do have in common outweighs their differences. One topic raise was how to place the pictorial world of outsider art in the contemporary when often its makers take little account of its place in history? The Kunsthaus Kannen’s boasts a collection of 5000 works collected from patients for over 40 years; this is a taxonomy that could reveal something of this lineage.
With the art at centre stage, the forum explored some challenging and interesting issues that are not frequently voiced. Outsider art wields such a charm and fascination for so many and has a burgeoning following across the world. In the end, the symposium offered no firm answers, but plenty of pabulum on considering art and disability. I found the groups of outsider artists around Europe an extremely creative, productive and expanding population making work to satisfy an inherent creative impulse. The forum raised many interesting questions but whether or not we answered them remains blurred but the perception of the outsider artist as a unique visionary remains.
