5th Art Brut Biennial: Beliefs

The theme of the 5th Biennial of Art Brut reveals a new facet of the Lausanne museum's collection. Some 300 drawings, paintings, assemblages, sculptures, writings and embroideries by 43 artists have been chosen to form a kind of spectrum of possibilities, ranging from illustrations of divinities and saints to sophisticated abstract compositions, symbolist paintings and ritual objects. The exhibition invites interaction between the worlds of these different artists, even when these worlds remain unique and mutually exclusive. The main angles of approach include works related to religion, a group of "spiritualist" productions, a large number of works based on personal mythologies, and a few pieces created by followers of the occult or dowsing.

Although many Art Brut practitioners live on the fringes of society, they are nonetheless deeply influenced by religion. Religion plays an important role in their education and their daily lives, and colonises their personal imaginary realm. Spiritualists and mediums avoid this authorship issue, claiming to be in contact with the afterlife and guided artistically by the dead or supernatural forces, However, it is often out of modesty or fear of being perceived as frauds that these self-taught artists take refuge in this kind of justification. The exhibition also includes works invested with magical powers by their authors: they may supposedly fulfil a protective function or act as talismans.

Creators of Art Brut stand out among other artists not so much for their metaphysical concerns, but rather for the imaginative approaches and procedures they bring to dealing with them: to taming this unknown world, to seeking explanations about the foundations of being, about life, death or, more humbly, about their own destiny. Most of them have severed connections with society, are marginal or non-conformist, and find no answers in the usual dogmas and structures. Thus they conceive their own beliefs, in the form of singular theories and original systems of thought. And when they engage with religious traditions, they appropriate and reinterpret them.

Curator:Anic Zanzi, curator at the Collection de l’Art Brut

The "Beliefs" show in the medias:

Magazine Réforme, Martine Lecoq, "l'Art Brut, un art spirituel", 9 december 2021

Le Temps, Elisa de Halleux, "La Nativité à l'état brut", 23december2021

Le Courrier de Lavaux, Pierre Jeanneret, "L'Art Brut face aux croyances", 22december2021
Bilan, Etienne Dumont, "Une biennale pour la Collection de l’Art Brut", 7 janvier 2022
24Heures, Florence Millioud Henriques, "Art...brut mais pas mécréant", 31 décembre 2021
Lacritique.org, Claire Margat, "Comment les croyances animent l'Art Brut, 17 janvier 2022
Courrier de l'Avivo, "L'Art Brut face aux croyances", 1er février
Glückspost, Martin Frischknecht, "Zwischen Kunst, religion und Wahn, 27 janvier 2022
La Quinzaine littéraire, Claire Margat, "Les représentations de la croyance dans l'Art Brut", 24 janvier 2022
RSI, "L'Art Brut, a Losanna", 18 mars 2022
ELLE, Sanzia Milesi, "Artisti dentro", avril 2022