About ArtBrut Gallery

ArtBrut Gallery & Studio for Socio-Cultural Inclusion in Wrocław

The ArtBrut Gallery & Studio for Socio-Cultural Inclusion have been run by the World of Hope Association at 46A Ruska Street in Wroclaw, since 2009. In 2024 the Gallery will celebrate its 15th anniversary. The Gallery is aimed at presenting and actively promoting art and creative output of intellectually handicapped artists and persons with mental disorders, facilitating their social inclusion as well as searching for and implementing effective forms of support.

This is a long-term and non-commercial project of the Association. Funds for the project are raised from diversified sources. This is the only project of this kind in Wroclaw and one of very few in Poland. The activities of the Gallery & Studio include a series of exhibitions, art workshops, meetings with artists and authors as well as various social inclusion actions and creative animations. ArtBrut Gallery has so far organised over 70 collective and solo exhibitions and presentations of art brut and outsider art, has built up its own and unique art collection, maintains extensive records of its activities.

In 2013 the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio received the ‘It’s Worth It’ cultural award from Gazeta Wyborcza – Wroclaw in the visual arts category. Projects by the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio form a part of the application as well as the programme of European Capital of Culture 2016.

Major external exhibitions presenting the artists of the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio include:

• > ON THE COMMON. WAVES EVERYWHERE 2 / 15th Media Art Biennale WRO 2013 PIONEERING VALUES, Wroclaw 2013;
• > ANTIDOTUM / 12th Survival Art Review ‘CITY – INFLAMATORY STATE’ in 2014;
• > HANDLE WITH CARE / OSTRALE’015 Dresden, Germany 2015;
• > EAT ART / ‘openHUB Europe’ project, Milan, Italy 2015;
• > PAR-DELÀ LES TABOUS / ‘Art et Déchirure’ Festival, in Rouen, France 2016;
• > 5TH BIENNALE OF URBAN ART – OUT OF STH – OCCUPATION. BWA, Wroclaw 2017;
• > ART. BRUT / Retroperspektywy Festival; Art Incubator – Fabryka Sztuki, Lodz 2018;
• > Open-air exhibition in the Wrocław Market Square, presenting artists from the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio, Wrocław 2020.

Works and texts of the artists of the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio have been featured in publications and books and have inspired various performances, such as:

• > I DO NOT FIT IN MY SKIN, an art book published by the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio in cooperation with the European Capital of Culture Wroclaw 2016;
• > UNDER A COMMON UMBRELLA / a social book – a publication prepared according to the idea of Krystyna Paraszkiewicz-Pater, published by the Wrocław Centre for Social Development under the honorary patronage of the Mayor of Wrocław, Jacek Sutryk. Publication date: 2019;
• > BIURO – BWA Wrocław Press Agency / art magazine;
• > RITA BAUM / art and literary magazine;
• > AUTISM SPECTRE – FROM DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY TO INTEGRATION AND INCLUSION / a scientific monograph, Continuo Publishing House, 2022;
• > I AM A PINK TORTE / a selection of poems by Wanda Sidorowicz / art book published by ArtBrut Gallery & Studio, 2022;
• > NOT EXCLUDED LOVE – a theatrical performance by students of the National Academy of Theatre Arts in Krakow – Wrocław Branch, as part of the research project of Bogusława Sztencel and Jolanta Solarz-Szwed;
• > WORDS – a multimedia performance by musicians Igor Gawlikowski & Krzysztof Konieczny and a multimedia artist Jacek Zachodny.

As part of our projects and activities, the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio have been co-operation with many artists and partners active in Wroclaw, Poland and abroad, both in the broadly understood area of culture and arts, as well as in the field of art brut and outsider art, including among others:
BWA galleries: Awangarda, Wrocław Główny, Dizajn, SIC! and Studio; WRO Art Centre; Entropia Gallery; National Museum in Wrocław and Four Domes Pavilion; Wrocław Contemporary Museum; City Gallery; Wrocław City Museum; National Forum of Music; OP ENHEIM House of Culture; ART TRANSPARENT Contemporary Art Foundation and SURVIVAL Art Review; Song of the Goat Theatre and Brave Kids Project; Wrocław Puppet Theatre; Capitol Music Theatre; Polski Theatre (currently Polski Theatre in the Underground); White Stork Synagogue; WuWA; New Horizons Association; Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław; Bourgeois Brewery; MiserArt – creative zone in the maze of exclusion; Polish Poster Gallery in Wrocław; OKAP (Centre for Cultural Backyard Animation); Graphic Arts Workshop – Światowid Cultural Centre; ATELIER Si, Pb...; U/KOS Gallery of Jerzy Kosałka and LUXUS Group; Nicponiej Gallery; TYC ART – Gate Gallery; TIFF Centre; the Eugeniusz Geppert Fine Arts Centre; Reception – Café & Club; Wrocław Culture Zone; Cocofli – books art cafe wine bar; Lower Silesian Film Centre; ‘Tak’ Gallery in Poznan; Theatre 21 in Warsaw; Art Brut Gallery of Lublin; Ostrale Dresden Foundation; ArtiLabo Gallery of Breda; Galerie Art Cru Berlin; MAM Galerie Rouen and Centre Dramatique National de Haute-Normandie.

One of the main goals of the Gallery & Studio is the improvement of the quality of life and functioning of people with intellectual disabilities and mental disorders. Long-term and comprehensive cooperation with professionals and institutions working in the fields of culture and the arts, as well as with specialists and partner organisations and institutions working for people with special needs, facilitates the search for and implementation of modern methods and effective solutions for the vital and social activation of these people. The essence of the activities is to overcome the fear of contact and cooperation with people with mental disabilities and mental disorders as a result of negative perceptions and stereotypes of them. It is important to engage in social dialogue and develop a new quality of social relationships. Forms of activities for people with disabilities proposed in the task are an important complement and alternative to existing forms of support in Wroclaw.

Currently, a group of ca. 20 artists with mental disabilities and mental disorders are associated with the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio. They participate in our activities receiving help in life activation and in social and cultural inclusion.

The space of the Gallery & the Studio is also available for an open group of recipients – including people at risk of social exclusion, but also for people interested in art brut and outsider art. The concept of the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio is to create a place beyond ideologies, tolerant of "otherness", open to common discussion and various points of view on the contemporary world in terms of culture, life, religion and art. The invited artists and guests represent a diversity of attitudes and views characteristic of the present times, making the participants of meetings and activities aware of the complexity and multi-level nature of the world. The basis of the Gallery & Studio activity is that the people who use this place have a tangible influence on its development, a sense of having their place for meetings, creative performance and exchange of experiences, a space which they can create according to their needs and dreams. ArtBrut Gallery & Studio for Socio-Cultural Inclusion have become an important Wroclaw venue of integration through art.

From the beginning, the activity of the ArtBrut Gallery & Studio has been supported by the Municipality of Wrocław. Between 2016-2018, 2019-2021, in 2022, 2023 and 2024 the Gallery & Studio has been operating thanks to the targeted financial support from the Municipality of Wrocław (www.wroclaw.pl) as part of the task: RUNNING THE ARTBRUT GALLERY AND STUDIO FOR SOCIO-CULTURAL INCLUSION FOR PEOPLE WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES AND MENTAL DISORDERS.

Accessibility

The website of ArtBrut Gallery has been developed in compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Font size has been adjusted for the visually impaired and text may be enlarged. Contrast also may be modified, which is particularly useful for people with various visual impairments. Moreover, the site has a specially designed layout, which enables intuitive navigation with the use of ideograms, which help to navigate the website for people with intellectual disabilities and reading difficulties. Site navigation controls (menu items, artist ideograms) use elements of the works created by our artists. Navigation is possible both with a keyboard and a mouse. Text can be read with screen readers (e.g. NVDA).