For its autumn exhibition, the BPS22 welcomes the artists of La “S” Grand Atelier, centre d’art brut & contemporain [centre for outsider and contemporary art]
located in Vielsalm, in the heart of the Belgian Ardennes. Thanks to its geographical location – outside the typical art circuits – and its need for a direct and continuous connection with its studios (drawing, painting, textiles, printmaking, graphic storytelling, ceramics, digital work, music, dance), La “S” swiftly began developing groundbreaking co-creation residency projects. In doing so, La “S” Grand Atelier has established itself over the past thirty years under the direction of Anne-Françoise Rouche as a pioneering example of sharing and the artists reflect on the forest region surrounding interweaving; a place where talents can flourish freely, where the usual “disabled vs non-disabled” categories no longer apply, and where barriers between different art works are dismantled. In line with this decentring approach, BPS22 – whose collections already include works of so-called Art Brut, outsider, singular, or marginal art – reaffirms its commitment to both social and artistic histories, as well as to the aesthetic, sociological, and institutional upheavals that have shaped the culture of the 20th and 21st centuries.