6th Art Brut biennial: Faces - December 8, 2023 through April 28, 2024

The 6th Art Brut Biennial will be devoted to Faces, a recurring theme in Art Brut. It will feature more than 330 works held by the Collection de l’Art Brut, drawing attention to the many ways in which the face is put front and centre, in different contexts, and using different media, techniques and forms.

Our face is what makes us unique. Its features and expressions convey everything about us: body and mind. The featured works invite us to reflect on elements of otherness in ourselves – a uniquely personal experience that challenges us and opens our eyes to the world of the intimate. To borrow the words of French philosopher and art historian Georges Didi-Hubermann, “what we see looks back at us”.

In the context of Art Brut, a form of art whose existence is driven by creative necessity, this exploratory exercise takes on a distinctive character. No matter how socially or culturally marginalised their creators, these works bring to the fore what it is that makes us human.

These faces – some attentive, questioning or communicative, others vacant – evoke a process of searching or withdrawal, forcing us to question, as if through a mise en abyme, our inherently personal experience of humanity and the world around us. These assorted facial features take us, as Marcel Duchamp’s “viewer”, on an ever-changing journey that touches upon – and even destabilises – the very foundations of our identity. Just as these faces are guests at the biennial, so they invite us to enter their world and the world of their creators.
So let us accept this invitation, issued without embellishment or deference, and be transported by the energy these faces convey, no matter how reassuring or troubling it may be.

The exhibition is divided into six sections, each representing a particular creative method, function or approach: Emerging Faces, Faces in Relief, Portraits, Graphical Variations of Faces, Travelling Faces and Textile Faces.

Curated by Pascal Roman, professor of clinical psychology, psychopathology and psychoanalysis at the University of Lausanne

The 6th Art Brut biennial "Faces" in the medias:

Le Dauphiné libéré, Suzie Georges, Musée de Lausanne: rencontrez 330 visages à la Collection de l'Art Brut, 14 décembre 2024
RSI, Lou Lepori, "Visages", I volti al centro della biennale dell' Art Brut, 4 janvier 2024
Kunstbulletin, Nadia El Beblawi, 6e biennale de l'Art Brut - Face à face avec le visage, janvier-février 2024
Le Temps, Eléonore Sulser, "A Lausanne, quand les artistes «bruts» vous contemplent de tous leurs yeux", 9 janvier 2024
24Heures, Florence Millioud, "L'Art Brut montre ses vrais "Visages", 12.01.2024
RTS, 19h30, Sarah Jelassi, "Pour sa 6ème biennale, la Collection de l'Art Brut propose une fascinante exploration autour du thème du visage", 23 janvier 2024
RTS, Vertigo, Florence Grivel, "Vis à Visages", 8 février 2024
Uniscope, Nadine Richon Salzmann, "Voir des visages partout", 12 février 2024
France 3 Rhône-Alpes, Ici 19/20 Alpes, "L'Art Brut des Visages", 2 février 2024

Practical information

Dates

December 8, 2023 - April 28, 2024

Evening opening

Thursday, December 7, 2023

Publication

Marc Décimo, Sarah Lombardi et Pascal Roman, Faces, Lausanne/Milan, Collection de l’Art Brut/5 Continents Editions, 2023, « Art Brut, la collection », under the direction of Sarah Lombardi, 153 pages, more than 100 color illustrations, available in french and in english.

Guided tours

Upon request for groups and classes: in French, German, English.

Press Kit

To be downloaded on the media page

Documentary films shown continuously throughout the exhibition

Kōmei Bekki, by Yukiko Koide, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd, Osaka, 1996, 5’

Filippo dalle mille teste [Filippo Bentivegna], by Laura Schimmenti, CLAC - Centro laboratorio arti contemporanee, Comune di Sortino (Italie), 2008, 32’

Souvenir d’un coquelicot [Martha Grünenwaldt], by Manon Pélissier, Fondation Paul Duhem, Beloeil (Belgique), 2021, 30’.

Signé Danielle Jacqui, by Bastien Genoux et Mario Del Curto, Detours films, Lausanne, 2023, 10’.

Visites d’atelier et d’expositions 1999-2005 [Marie-Rose Lortet], by Claude and Clovis Prévost, A.R.I.E., Étrépagny (France), 2006, 26’.

Gene Merritt, by Bruno Decharme, abcd, Paris, 2000, 8’.

Linda Naeff, les couleurs habillent la souffrance, by Bastien Genoux and Mario Del Curto, Detours films, Lausanne, 2014, 25’.

Antonio Roseno de Lima, by Erika Manoni, Collection de l’Art Brut, Lausanne, 2014, 17’.

Shinichi Sawada, by Philippe Lespinasse and Andress Alvarez, Collection de l’Art Brut/Lokomotiv Films, Lausanne/Le Tourne, 2007, 16’.

Accessibility

The exhibition 6th Art Brut biennial: Faces is accessible to people with reduced mobility.

Associated event(s)

Visit with musical improvisation to the 6th Biennale de l'Art Brut: Visages - Saturday 9 December 2023, 02:30 pm
free guided tour with musical improvisation, museum admission charged

Booking via the online ticket shop
Free guided tour of the 6th Art Brut biennial: Faces for teachers - Tuesday 16 January 2024, 06:00 pm
Booking via the online ticket shop
- Thursday 18 January 2024, 03:30 pm - Event fully booked
Children's concert: “Draw Your Own Music” - Thursday 18 January 2024, 05:00 pm
For children aged 4+. Length: 45 minutes.

Free. Registration recommended.
- Event fully booked
Children’s workshop "Terre à terre" - Saturday 20 January 2024, 02:00 pm
For children aged 5 and over

Duration 2h, CHF 10.-/child
- Event fully booked
Free guided tour of the 6th Art Brut biennial: Faces - Saturday 20 January 2024, 02:30 pm
free guided tour, museum admission charged

Visite by Pascal Roman, curator, with special guest: Jacques Roman, actor and poet

Booking via the online ticket shop
Adult’s workshop "Terre à terre" - Wednesday 14 February 2024, 02:00 pm
For adults

Duration 2h, CHF 10.-/person
- online booking, within the limits of the seats available.
- Wednesday 14 February 2024, 02:00 pm - online booking, within the limits of the seats available.
Symposium: Faces in Art Brut, and beyond - Thursday 22 February 2024, 09:00 am
Le Nucleo, Vortex, University of Lausanne 9am–5pm

Attendance is free, but spaces are limited and registration is required ([email protected])
Children’s workshop "Terre à terre" - Saturday 24 February 2024, 02:00 pm
For children aged 5 and over

Duration 2h, CHF 10.-/child
- Event fully booked
Free guided tour of the 6th Art Brut biennial: Faces - Saturday 24 February 2024, 02:30 pm
Free guided tour, museum admission charged

Visite by Pascal Roman, curator, with special guest: Lucienne Peiry, art historian

Booking via the online ticket shop
Free guided tour of the 6th Art Brut biennial: Faces - Tuesday 27 February 2024, 06:00 pm
Visit by Pascal Roman, exhibition curator

Free guided tour, museum admission charged

Booking via the online ticket shop
Children’s workshop "Terre à terre" - Wednesday 13 March 2024, 02:00 pm
For children aged 5 and over

Duration 2h, CHF 10.-/child
- online booking, within the limits of the seats available.
Children’s workshop "Terre à terre" - Saturday 20 April 2024, 02:00 pm
For children aged 5 and over

Duration 2h, CHF 10.-/child
- Event fully booked
Free guided tour of the 6th Art Brut biennial: Faces - Saturday 20 April 2024, 02:30 pm
Free guided tour, museum admission charged

Booking via the online ticket shop