Art brut is recognizable as works of art created from an impulse or urge to create, with no particular audience in mind. It is a glimpse into some of the most personal and intimate points of view of the creators, and affords the audience a chance to think and reflect on what it means to have your very own ‘world view’. Art brut is born out of the every day, and its appeal is beginning to capture the hearts of many.
The Borderless Art Museum NO-MA has been operating for ten years now in the town of Omi-hachiman. The museum has become a trusted member of the local community, and has been exhibiting the works of contemporary artists alongside works of art made by individuals with intellectual disabilities, psychiatric disorders as well as the elderly/lonely pensioners with no established ‘network’. By doing so, the museum works to communicate the latent creativity in all human beings, from any background or circumstance. There are no borders between the ‘able’ and the ‘disabled’, and the museum works to transcend these, and any other borders which keep groups of people apart.
In 2006, NO-MA established a joint project with the Collection de l’art brut in Lausanne, Switzerland and through this, was able to expose Japanese art brut to an international audience. The art received high praise, and garnered much interest. Thanks to the success overseas, many public museums in Japan began to take an interest in art brut, and the number of exhibitions devoted to it have increased. Art brut has a power and attractiveness that is now generating high levels of interest across the fields of social welfare, medical care and art, whilst simultaneously transcending these categorizations. With NO-MA as a hub, we plan to organize multiple exhibitions across Omi-hachiman (utilizing the many traditional ‘machiya’ buildings as exhibition spaces) to showcase a diverse range of art brut. The initiative will very much be community-led, with a strong focus on cooperating with the Omi-hachiman community whilst also introducing many different art brut projects and initiatives from social welfare institutions across the country, as well as inviting the directors of prominent museums from overseas for symposiums and lectures. In short, Omi-hachiman will become the epicenter for the promotion of Japanese art brut to both domestic and international audiences.