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HISTORY

Located in the heart of Brussels, the Art et marges museum, museum of outsider art, questions art and its borders.

The museum’s collection was created in the mid-1980s by self-taught artists, artistic workshops for people with mental disabilities or in psychiatric settings. Nowadays it is composed of more than 4000 international artworks produced outside the frequented trails of art.

The temporary exhibitions, at the rate of three a year, mix artists on both sides of the margin, questioning the boundaries of art and its definition.

1983

An idea takes shape, a natural child of the surrealist movement.

Its name is Art en Marge.

1984

From the idea to its realization, Art en Marge, Research and Diffusion Center, was created as a non-profit association under the artistic direction of Françoise Henrion.

1986

Our first place open to the public - 7, rue des Vierges in 1000 Brussels, the exhibitions follow at a rate of more than five a year. For each exhibition a bulletin is produced, containing texts, interviews, portraits of artists and reproductions of works.

Many exhibitions have since taken place, showing the works of self-taught artists some of whom are residents in homes for the mentally disabled or patients in psychiatric hospitals, others have various jobs such as photographer, second-hand dealer, door to door salesman, musician, clothes designer, legionnaire, judge, mason, farmer, architect, cook, woodcutter, state employee, storyteller, prisoner, etc

In order to reflect on our research Gérard Preszowe edited the magazine "Passages". The first issue of the series entitled "Art en Marge Year 1" was written in collaboration with Françoise Henrion, Chris Delville and Anne Vanderlinden.

1992

Art en Marge moved to n° 59 rue des Alexiens. Evicted from our previous address, fate had us settle in next to La Fleur de Papier Doré, a café owned by “Le Petit Gérard”, the anarchist, poet and friend of the Belgian surrealists. There one came across Marcel Mariën, René Magritte, E.L.T. Mesen, Louis Scutenaire, Paul Colinet, and Jean Dubuffet, the father of Art Brut, who exhibited at Gérard Van Bruaene's in 1949.

1996

Art en Marge celebrated its first 10 years with 10 exhibitions.On the occasion of this anniversary the fourth issue of Passages was published. It was titled “An Object, Just an Object, However…”, written by Gérard Preszow and coordinated by Brigitte Colin.

2001

At age 15, Art en Marge moved to n°312, rue Haute.

2002

Carine Fol takes over the artistic direction of the center after the retirement of Françoise Henrion. She forms a team with Olivier Bultiau.

2003

Publication of the catalogue Art en Marge Collection and organization of an international colloquium at the Museum of Doctor Guislain in Ghent, on the occasion of the presentation of the collection which will then be presented at the Halle Saint-Pierre in Paris.

2005

For the 175 anniversary of Belgium, Odd Visions is exhibited in Bozar, the Fine Arts Palace in Brussels, in parallel with the exhibition The visionary Belgium of Harald Szeemann.

2006

Art en Marge is celebrating its 20th year of existence. The program that was designed for this 20th jubilee is titled "art in the edges". It wants to question the limits of outsider art by presenting contemporary creations of belgian and international artists who work in varied disciplines such as textile, photography, video, music, … by using five expositions in the center, as well as several extramural actions.

2009

The association Art en Marge becomes the Art et marges musem by the recognition of la Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles. Its missions become mainly conservation, diffusion, education and research. The space is growing and allows the development of the museum's activities

2010

Art et marges museum organizes the exhibition "MusikOblik" mixing the outstanding works of the outsider artist Adolf Wölfli and contemporary creations including those of Baudouin Oosterlynck. At the initiative of the museum, the Belgian composer Baudouin de Jaer embarked on the deciphering of the musical cryptograms of Wölfli's works, which later led to the recording of a CD, co-produced with the LaM (Lille Métropole Museum of Modern, Contemporary and Outsider Art) and Sub Rosa.Exchange projectas part of Pécs 2010. Belgian, Hungarian and Dutch artists gather for a 10-day workshop in Pécs. Project created in 2008 by invitation of COCOF under the bilateral agreement with Hungary, in collaboration with vzw Wit.h, stichtingEenNieuwe Wind, Pécs 2010, Janus Panonius Museum.

2011

Art et marges museum exhibits the exceptional creations of Arthur Bispo do Rosario as part of the Festival Europalia Brazil.

2012

Art et marges museum gets the Children's Award as part of the Museum Awards.

Tatiana Veress succeeds Carine Fol at the direction of Art et marges museum. The previous director takes over the function of artistic director of Centrale for contemporary art.

2013

Art et marges museum gets the Audience Award as part of the Museum Awards.

Foundation of the association of Friends of Art et marges museum.

2014

Art et marges museum celebrates its 5 years on the occasion of a festive day when visitors and artists are invited to create together, in the presence of JoëlleMilquet, Minister of Culture for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Karine Lalieux, Councilwoman of Culture in Brussels, and also of the two previous directors, Carine Fol and Françoise Henrion.

Art et marges museum presents the artworks of the Catalan outsider artist Josep Baqué, in the exhibition "Demons and Wonders". This is the first time that a museum institution has so widely presented these works.

Art et marges museum and the RAWR! Collective won the Audience Award and the Jury Prize for their programming at the 2014 edition of the Museum Night Fever.

2015

Art et marges museum hosts the works from the prestigious collection abcd / Bruno Decharme for the exhibition "From navel to cosmos".

Carine Fol publishes "From the art of the mad to the art without margins. A century of fascination through the eyes of Hans Prinzhorn, Jean Dubuffet and Harald Szeeman" which stems from her doctoral thesis in art history.

2016

With the Culturel Center Jacques Franck and wit.h, Art et marges museum launches the first edition of the multidisciplinary festival Multi Ordinary.

Art et marges museum presents the exhibition "Save the world? ".In collaboration with Atelier Goldstein, ABCD / Bruno Decharme Collection, christianberst art brut Galerie, La Fabuloserie, The S Grand Atelier, The Museum of Everything and the Museum Dr. Guislain.

2017

In collaboration with the artistic laboratory La "S" Grand Atelier, the Art et marges museum presents the exhibition Knock Outsider Komiks.

2018

During the exhibition “Women in Outsider Art”, the Viennese collector Hannah RIeger invites us to live “in the Outsider Art” in her own way in this exhibition which brings together 105 works by Austrian and international artists, with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum in Brussels and the Austrian Federal Chancellery within the framework of the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

At the same time, the Art et marges museum pays tribute to the artist Jean-Pierre Rostenne, in a room which brings together his totem canes, assemblages, photographs and diverted objects as well as the publication of a book.

2019

Inspired by a quote from Henry Miller and a line from Alain Resnais, “America does not exist, I know I have already been there” is a double exhibition / publication project proposing to present “America” by raising the question of the place of the USA in the world, more precisely through the collective imagination. Matthieu Morin, exhibition curator and author of the publication, invites us to discover a hundred works of popular, contemporary and outsider art from all over the world.

PUBLICATION

On the occasion of the museum’s 10-year anniversary, the CFC editions are publishing the Art et marges museum publication, which highlights the museum's collection and its artists. This book brings together about two hundred works of outsider art from the collection, which includes a total of more than 4000. It presents astounding creations designed by self-taught artists with a unique mode of expression and great inventiveness, contextualized by those who made and still shape the Art et marges museum to this day. Hear about the tale of the museum through a back and forth between theoretical texts, interviews and anecdotes…

Collection

The collection of Art et marges museum contains more than 4000 artworks from nearly 200 artists of all nationalities.

Here is an overview of the collection. This section will be regularly updated.