Gewächse der Seele: Floral Fantasies between Symbolism and Outsider Art

“Outsider Art”, known as “Art brut” in Europe, is often rooted in exceptional psychological experiences. It contains a broad spectrum of studies of plants, plant creatures, plants with souls, and even plant-animal entities. In addition to that, the plant can also be found as a metaphor and a projection surface for the psyche in art history, especially in Symbolism and Surrealism. In an interdisciplinary project involving several institutions, the plant as it currently manifests in Outsider Art will be featured in exhibitions, installations, and performance art, as well as dance and theater productions, which will contrast it with selected works from the artistic canon, shedding light on parallels in the understanding of the plant per se. At the same time, the show questions the established boundaries between Insider and Outsider Art.