Outsider art bursts out of shadows in large-scale show blurring its borders with contemporary art

The creative and multidisciplinary output of artists living with disability or intellectual deficiencies is spotlighted in a major exhibition at Charleroi’s BPS22 museum, La « S » Grand Atelier Novê Salm.

It is an exuberant presentation of more than 400 works by artists from the internationally-renowned therapy centre in Vielsalm, as well as contemporary artists participating in its residencies.

Together, they invite the public into their imaginary and idealised world, which reflects the creative and inclusive vision of this centre in the Belgian Ardennes. Occupying a former military barracks since 1992, its innovative and pioneering community of artists are now represented in established collections of outsider art in Paris, Lausanne and New York.

It is not surprising that they are on show at Charleroi, one of the most audacious and accessible cultural spaces in the country. Housing the collection of the province of Hainaut, which includes a number of art brut works, the museum exhibits contemporary art by local, Belgian and international artists in a light-filled renovated former industrial hangar.

Deliberately blurring the boundaries of art brut and contemporary art, the exhibition aims to challenge the audience's preconceived notions of outsider art. It was in 1945 that the French artist Jean Dubuffet first coined the term art brut after he was struck by the freedom of expression in the art of the mentally ill. The name signified the rawness of their output and outsider art has since denoted the art of children, psychiatric patients, prisoners and anyone creating art outside conventional structures of art training and production.

If outsider art has long been viewed in isolation, this historic separation is slowly dismantling, insists Anne-Francoise Rouche (pictured above), longtime director of Atelier S. “Things have evolved and we need to make sure that art brut now has its place in the contemporary art world,” she says.

Nevertheless there remains a distinction. “The artists at Atelier S are not contemporary artists like others. They don’t have a career plan, they are fragile and they need us. Art brut enables them to express their desire to be accepted as they are,” she adds.

For the exhibition curator, Dorothée Duvivier, "our goal is to offer an alternative perspective on art and to showcase the richness of its margins.”

The vast space of BPS22 has metamorphosed into the village of Novê Salm for the show. The playful title was conjured up by Monsieur Pimpant, one of the artists in residence at La “S”, and evokes local folklore about spell-casting witches, the American town of Salem which was renowned for sorcery, as well the Walloon dialect origin of the name Vielsalm, meaning “old salmon”.

It sets the scene for a vibrant collection of works encompassing drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, as well as applied crafts, ceramics, videos, digital creations and installations. A larger-than-life effigy of Johnny Hallyday greets visitors as they arrive, one of the many collective works on display. Collaboration is at the heart of this show, a result of the art centre’s geo­graph­i­cal isolation from the art world and need to develop co-creation residency projects.

This is evident in the darkened exhibition space on the ground floor complete with an original sound installation, that recreates the forest setting of Vielsalm. Irène Gérard and Michiel De Jaeger, a formidable duo, transformed a greenhouse into a cabin for the show (pictured above); colourful depictions of other artists from the community and exotic flora and fauna. Also dominating the sombre space is a large aerial installation, an intricate textile work created by visiting artists and residents that highlights the experimental nature of the centre’s output.

Upstairs, one of the artists involved in the textile creation, Barbara Massart, is the protagonist of a film by Nicolas Clément that poetically explores her experience of grief and illness. In a passageway dramatically overlooking the ‘forest’ exhibition space, Gérard and De Jaeger return for a series of stark portraits entitled gueules cassées. Inspired by the mutilated faces of first world war soldiers, their graphic representations of grotesque faces offer a haunting perspective of society’s rejection and often violent reaction to people visually different.

Down in the grand hall, different sections of the ‘village’ vividly demonstrate the artistic range at La « S » Grand Atelier. Flying high above comic strips, digital artworks and a ceramic village square fountain are a collection of suspended monumental paper and adhesive strip fantastical creatures by Marcel Schmitz.  

After a pertinent series exploring the sentimental and sexual aspirations of the artists at the centre, Le Banquet (pictured below) is an eye-catching collaborative installation. The lavish and overflowing table of culinary favourites was created entirely out of ceramic, inspired by an alfresco social celebration at the centre in 2024. A film of this party is screened on a wall behind; a joyful gathering epitomising the spirit of the artistic community.

For Rouche, the staging of this exhibition at BPS22 is significant. “It’s very important because it’s an institutional site in Belgium and a place where the public would not expect to see art brut.” It also represents a political statement as Rouche has gained invaluable insight into the discrimination facing people with a mental handicap and “the extent to which they are invisible in society”. She firmly believes that their artwork and the centre can help combat the persistent stigmatisation surrounding them.

Accompanying the exhibition, BPS22 hosts a series of activities, including screenings, talks, writing workshops, guided tours and a symposium exploring the practices of the art centre from 20 to 22 November.

La « S » Grand Atelier Novê Salm
Until 4 January
BPS22
Campus Charleroi Métropole
22 Boulevard Solvay
Charleroi

Photos: Marcel Schmitz-Thierry Van Hasselt Vivre a Frandisco Planete ©Leslie Artamonow; Sara Bichao-Anaid Ferte-Barbara Massart-Grand Ciel ©Leslie Artamonow; Dominique Theate ©Muriel Thies/La S Grand Atelier;Johnny Hallyday by Marie Bodson, Anaïs Schram and Nicolas Chuard; exhibition view ©Leslie Artamonow; Le Banquet Sarah Albert-Marie Bodson-Laura Delvaux-Anaid Ferte-Martin Lafaye-Pascal Leyder-Aurelie Mazaudier-Marcel Schmitz-Christian Vansteenput ©Leslie Artamonow