07. December 2014 - 08. March 2015
collecting madness
The Dammann Collection at Stadthaus Ulm
Even as a medical student Gerhard Dammann was interested in art by psychotics and people who experienced psychiatric treatment and worked as an intern at the renowned Prinzhorn Collection at Heidelberg University for a couple of months. During that time, Dammann – who today is the heading the psychiatric clinic Münsterlingen at Lake Constance and the psychiatric services Thurgau as medical and hospital director – bought the first pieces of "Outsider Art" or "Art Brut". Together with his wife Karin he became a dedicated collector. Since then, the collection has grown to include almost two hundred works – a collection that couldn't be any more diversified or any more mad. The Dammanns always pay attention to the artists' vita: “The fact that they can be creative despite their severe illnesses is what's fascinating for us.”
The Damman collection was exhibited at Prinzhorn Collection in Heidelberg, at the Museum of the History of Medicine at the University of Zurich and at the Museum im Lagerhaus at Stiftung für schweizerische Naive Kunst und Art Brut in St. Gallen. It includes so-called classics of Outsider Art like series by Gugging artists Johann Hauser, August Walla, Oswald Tschirtner or works from the famous open studio at the psychiatry of La Tinaia in Florence, as well as quite extraordinary works: a carved bed created around 1880 in an institution near Chartres, or a heraldic sheet dated to 1720, which is regarded as the earliest known piece of Outsider Art
Works by well known Outsider Artists like Franz Huemer, Josef Wittlich, drawings by Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky or an object by Gustav Mesmer, who became known as “Icarus of Lautertal” – trouvailles that add to the collection's unique character. “collecting madness” presents a kaleidoscope of Outsider Art and Art Brut, sometimes eerily beautiful, sometimes absurdly humorous, sometimes touchingly humane.
Project management: Dr Raimund Kast
Opening: Sunday, December 7, 2014, 11am
Curator Dr Raimund Kast in conversation with Karin and Gerhard Dammann.
Free admission
A catalogue has been published to accompany the exhibition: "collecting madness" - Outsider Art from the Dammann collection, Volume II; edited by Monika Jagfeld and Gerhard Dammann. Both Volume I and Volume II are available at the Stadthaus for 25 € each or 40 € for the set.
additional program
Friday, January 9, 2015, 8pm:
Between Madness and Art – The Prinzhorn Collection (Language: German)
Documentary by Christan Beetz, co-produced by SWR / arte / ZDF Dokukanal 2007.
Admission 5 €
Sunday, January 18, 2015, 11am
Thursday, February 26, 2015, 6pm
Sunday, March 8, 4pm
Guided tours with collector Dr Gerhard Dammann
3,50 € per person, children 1,50 €, additional children from the family 0,50 €.
Please register by phone 0731 / 161 7700 (by Friday, January 6, 12am for the tour on January 18)