(New York, New York) The American Folk Art Museum (AFAM) and Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) are thrilled to announce a three-day film series, Radical Institutions and Experimental Psychiatry: The Legacy of Francesc Tosquelles on Film, co-organized in conjunction with the exhibition Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut.
Inspired by themes in the exhibition, the film series will explore mental illness and therapeutic care practices rooted in community building, self-managed care, and creativity that echo Catalan psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles’s innovative initiatives at the Saint-Alban psychiatric hospital in Southern France in the mid-twentieth century.
During that time, Tosquelles developed a practice that came to be called “institutional psychotherapy,” which was based on non-hierarchical and collective interactions between patients, medical staff, on-site workers, and neighboring rural communities. Under this organizational structure, patients—including artists Auguste Forestier and Marguerite Sirvins, who impacted Jean Dubuffet’s conceptualization of art brut—had access to a theater, library, cinema, and printing press.
Screenings will take place at MoMI from Friday June 21, to Sunday June 23, 2024. This series is co-curated by Mathilde Walker-Billaud, AFAM’s Curator of Programs and Engagement, and Sonia Shechet Epstein, MoMI’s Curator of Science & Technology.
Through a selection of international documentaries, shorts, and feature films, spanning from 1962 to 2024, the program will highlight the lives of radical psychiatrists trained by, influenced by, or working along the lines of Tosquelles, while offering new insights into the history of psychiatric care and its intersections with politics and culture. Most screenings will be followed by a Q&A session with the filmmakers.
The series will conclude with the New York premiere of The Potential History of Francesc Tosquelles, which investigates Tosquelles’s forgotten legacy in Spain. It will be followed by a conversation with filmmaker Mireia Sallarès and Tosquelles exhibition co-curator Joana Masó.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with MoMI on this important program which highlights and expands on the extraordinary materials included in the exhibition. This is an opportunity to reflect on the ways in which experimental cinema has contributed to a renewed and nuanced representation of mental illness and what psychiatric care can be,”says Walker-Billaud.
“AFAM’s wonderful exhibition highlights how inspiring Tosquelles’s approach to his patients – first and foremost relating to them as people – was to those who surrounded him. We are very pleased to be presenting Radical Institutions, which showcases that legacy through film,” says Epstein.
About the Exhibition:
Situated at the intersection of art and psychiatry, Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut explores Tosquelles’ legacy for the first time in the United States.
After fleeing the Nationalist government of Franco amidst the Spanish Civil War, Tosquelles arrived in 1940 at the Saint-Alban psychiatric hospital in Southern France, where he devised a series of revolutionary psychiatric practices. At the heart of this transformation was the “Club Paul-Balvet,” a cooperative group for organizing celebrations, plays, dances, and circus shows.
During the German occupation of France, this “asylum-village” also became a refuge for political dissidents and intellectuals associated with the artistic avant-garde, who were exposed to the prodigious artistic output of its patients. These very artworks prompted French artist Jean Dubuffet to expand upon the notion of art brut in 1945 and contribute to the development of his collection.
About the Film Series:
The program begins on Friday with a short film on Félix Guattari (by François Pain), and a fictional documentary on Frantz Fanon (by Abdenour Zahzah) – both of whom were were psychiatrists and political activists trained and influenced by Tosquelles – followed by a conversation with the filmmakers.
On Saturday afternoon, the program will explore the possibilities of educating the “maladjusted,” or those who are unable to cope with the demands of a normal social environment, through reinvented structures of care and knowledge, featuring a short fiction film by Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, and a documentary by Renaud Victor made with special education leader Fernand Deligny.
On Saturday evening, a selection of short films will highlight the role of art in counteracting isolation inside and outside of psychiatric hospitals. The program ends with the New York premiere of a film by Mireia Sallarès devoted to the forgotten legacy of Tosquelles in Catalonia, Spain, and beyond.
All screenings take place at Museum of the Moving Image, located at 36-01 35 Ave, Astoria, Queens, NY. Tickets and info are available at https://movingimage.org/series/radical-institutions/. To view the full schedule, please click here.
For the American Folk Art Museum, please contact: publicrelations@folkartmuseum.org
For Museum of the Moving Image, please contact Tomoko Kawamoto: tkawamoto@movingimage.org
About the American Folk Art Museum:
Founded in 1961, the American Folk Art Museum engages people of all backgrounds through its collections, exhibitions, publications, and programs as the leading forum shaping the understanding and appreciation of folk and self-taught artists across time and places.
About Museum of the Moving Image:
Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) is the only institution in the United States that deals comprehensively with the art, technology, enjoyment, and social impact of film, television, and digital media. In its facility in Astoria, New York, the Museum presents exhibitions; screenings; discussion programs featuring actors, directors, and creative leaders; and education programs. It houses a large collection of moving image artifacts and screens over 500 films annually. Its exhibitions—including the core exhibition Behind the Screen and The Jim Henson Exhibition—are noted for their integration of material objects, interactive experiences, and audiovisual presentations. For more information about the MoMI, visit movingimage.us.