Search results for: Art Brut

Authors: Katherine Lapierre

Abstract:

It is in relation with the notions of Art Brut that the research and creation projects focus on the notion of outsider architecture, a direct reference to the expression “Outsider Art”. This term was used for the first time by Roger Cardinal, to translate “Art Brut,” which was defined by Jean Dubuffet. Centered on the foundations of archisculpture, the research confronts the idea of integrating the arts with architecture, while going beyond the schema of a simple dialogue between the artwork and the architectural space. Therefore, the material exploration of notions located at the frontier of the fields of art and architecture is propose. The program also falls within the field of “architecture autre” (“other” architecture), coined by Reyner Banham along with the definition of New Brutalism, which corresponds to an architecture that excludes any historical or conventional cultural references: it abandons all concepts of composition, symmetry, order, module, and proportions. Also related to “Art Autre” (“Art of Another Kind”) which was defined by Michel Tapié and Art Brut, this architecture was to exclude any monumental symbolism and exceed "the norms of its expression with as much vehemence as Dubuffet's paintings exceeded the standards of painting.” If the connections between Art Brut and architecture are sometimes tenuous, they revive theories supplanted by rationalism. Jean Dubuffet’s constructions, built on a monumental scale from his sculptures and drawings, are examples that recall certain notions of Art Brut applied to architecture and design. Let’s name, for example, the Closerie Falbala in Périgny, Val-de-Marne, France, and the Tour aux figures in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. Although they cannot be considered as Art Brut productions per se, they provide strong glimpses of the potential of Art Brut notions for architecture. The project thus combines models based on scanning, digitization, and software calculation. The printed supports become integrated elements of the structural system, architectural elements that can adopt myriad shapes) before being reintegrated into the models. Through this process, it also becomes possible to imagine how the printed object would look at full scale without support. The walls of the building result from the aligned supports from 3D printing and were progressively adjusted through a back-and-forth process between printing, scanning, and modeling. With emphasis on the digital representation of such architectures, the research reveals the manifold possibilities offered by exchange and dialogue between the disciplines of drawing, sculpture, design and architecture. The projects presented in this paper will be shown as part of the Habitat outsider exhibition at the Montcalm gallery in Gatineau (Quebec) in the fall of 2025. All along this work, the links created between sculpture and architecture propose a critical and poetic look at the themes of creation and habitability. Through the hybridization of techniques and digital technologies in the creation of the prototypes inspired by outsider architectures, new axes of research regularly emerge, new possibilities constantly appear. The unexpected results clearly illustrate the richness and potential of these ventures that constantly challenge the boundaries of traditional architecture and sculpture.

Keywords: architecture, Art Brut, Generative art, archisculpture

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Authors: B. Körner

Abstract:

This paper compares deviant behaviour in two different readings: 1) as symptomatic for so-called ‘mental illness’ and 2) as part of artistic creation. It analyses works of performance art in the respective frames of psychiatric evaluation and performance studies. This speculative comparison offers an alternative interpretation of mad behaviour beyond pathologisation. It questions the distinction of psychiatric diagnosis, which can contribute to reducing the stigmatisation of mad people. The stigma associated with madness entails exclusion, prejudice, and systemic oppression. Symptoms of psychiatric diagnoses can be considered as behaviour exceptional to the psychological norm. This deviant behaviour constitutes an outsider role which is also defining for the societal role of ‘the artist’, whose transgressions of the norm are expected and celebrated. The research proposes the term ‘artistic exceptionalism’ for this phenomenon. In this study, a set of performance artworks are analysed within the frame of an art-theoretical interpretation and as if they were the basis of a psychiatric assessment. This critical comparison combines the perspective on ‘mental illness’ of mad studies with methods of interpretation used in performance studies. The research employs auto theory and artistic research; interweaving lived experience with scientific theory building through the double role of the author as both performance artist and survivor researcher. It is a distinctly personal and mad thought experiment. The research proposes three major categories of artistic strategies approaching madness: (a) confronting madness (processing and publicly addressing one's own experiences with mental distress through artistic creation), (b) creating critical conditions (conscious or unconscious, voluntary or involuntary creation of crisis situations in order to create an intense experience for a work of art), and (c) symptomatic strategies. This paper focuses on the last of the three categories: symptomatic strategies. These can be described as artistic methods with parallels to forms of coping with and/or symptoms of ‘mental disorders.’ These include, for example feverish activity, a bleak worldview, additional perceptions, an urge for order, and the intensification of emotional experience. The proposed categories are to be understood as a spectrum of approaches that are not mutually exclusive. This research does not aim to diagnose or pathologise artists or their strategies; disease value is neither sought nor assumed. Neither does it intend to belittle psychological suffering, implying that it cannot be so bad if it is productive for artists. It excludes certain approaches that romanticise and/or exoticise mental distress, for example, artistic portrayal of people in mental crisis (e.g., documentary-observational or exoticising depictions) or the deliberate and exaggerated imitation of their forms of expression and behaviour as ‘authentic’ (e.g., Art Brut). These are based on the othering of the Mad and thus perpetuate the social stigma to which they are subjected. By noting that the same deviant behaviour can be interpreted as the opposite in different contexts, this research offers an alternative approach to madness beyond the confines of psychiatry. It challenges the distinction of psychiatric diagnosis and exposes its social constructedness. Hereby, it aims to empower survivors and reduce the stigmatisation of madness.

Keywords: artistic research, mad studies, mental health, performance art, psychiatric stigma

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