Art and madness: visions on Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente

• Grant number: 23/13820-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: July 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Arley Andriolo
• Grantee: Ivne Alencar Farias
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Approaches to the plastic productions of people in psychiatric institutions can be traced back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries from two perspectives: a psychopathological perspective and an aesthetic one, through doctors, artists and art critics. A problem concerning the artistry of these "mad" creators is configured insofar as a psychopathological interpretation is imposed on their manifestations. The Museu de Imagens do Inconsciente (Museum of Images of the Unconscious), through the figure of Nise da Silveira, played a fundamental role in this issue by moving it from the field of psychiatry to that of the meaning of viewers' emotions. Working in the field of mental health, since 1952 the Museum has promoted a vision of madness devoid of the stigmas and prejudices associated with those suffering from mental illness. It has more than 352,000 works in its collection, 128,000 of which were listed in 2003, making it the main institution for preserving these works. This study aims to record the ways in which visitors read the works in the Museum of Images of the Unconscious in order to think about art, madness and patrimonialization. To this end, a field study will be carried out at the museum, located in the Engenho de Dentro neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, in two stages: a questionnaire and an interview. The data obtained will be analyzed based on a thematic study of the statements and discussed with authors from the fields of Art Psychology and Cultural Heritage.