In our effort to disseminate art within many different genres, it occurs to us that art is about understanding who we are and what kind of a world we live in. The Arts Festival's presentation of music, theatrical art and visual art is not only a journey in art and inside ourself, but also a journey in which we develop aesthetic and human reverberations in our encounter with other people. We like Menuhin's words: "Everybody has the right to music", but is this true?

 

In presenting this year's main exhibition under the banner Outsider Art/Art Brut, we have several good reasons behind it:

 

This is art that deserves a larger place in the public arena.

 

On the international art scene, much is occurring. For example, "The Outsider Art Fair" in New York is one of the city's hippest galleries. The GAIA  Museum in Randers, Denmark, exhibits outsider art and has built up the musuem as an integration project. One wandering exhibition under the auspices of Rate Britain went to Madrid, London and Dublin in 2006, where Art Brut and Outsider Art were exhibited together with works of established visual artists. The two-year collaborative project "In Between Out" was initiated from Berlin.

 

 There is a firm foundation in the pioneering work done with the Trastad Collections, Sær-Troms Museum.

 

Teh Arts Festival of North Norway is thus very proud to be given the opportunity to bring these works of art to a wider audience. Project manager for the Trastad Collections, Simone Romy Rossner, has curated the exhibition, and we will also see works from a number of large contemporary art museums and institutions.

 

On Sunday 25 June from 12:00-16:00 there will also be an open seminar at Sør-Troms Museum where interested lay people and professionals will have an opportunity to hear more about the topic and to disscuss it together. The seminar is arranged by the University College of Harstad.