Lecture PD Dr. Thomas Röske - Geyso20 st the Sprengel Museum Hanover

Das Atelier als Gemeinschaft#Geyso20 - Open Studios and workshop collectives today - attempt at an overview

Sprengel Museum Hanover, march 25, 2025

With the show "Das Atelier als Gemeinschaft#Geyso20", the Sprengel Museum Hanover presents an art venue following its own rules and rhythms. In addition to the diverse artistic works, the exhibition focuses on the documentation and communication of the Geyso20´s organism. In his lecture, PD Dr phil. Thomas Röske, Director of the Prinzhorn Collection, Heidelberg University Hospital, presents the diversity of the open studio landscape and he talks about the necessary change of new curatorial approaches.

From Else Blankenhorn´s specially designed banknotes, with which the artist wanted to finance the resurrection of lovers at the beginning of the 20th century, to Horst Ademeit, who attempted to capture "Kältestrahlen" on his Polaroids, the question arises again and again: How do we present this art in such a way that it does justice to the artists' intentions? How do we present Outsider Art correctly? In numerous examples, ranging from positive to more negative examples, Thomas Röske opens up the stage next to the established art world, the stage of Outsider Art.

Not all of the open studios, that enrich the art world, have been recognized yet. The ones we already know invite us to work on a new ‘we’ in order to rethink our definition of art. The lecture invites us to discover more than 300 open studios in Germany and pleads for the long-term protection of these art venues.

Photographs: Anke Pauli