Turning the Art World Inside Out

"In modern society we are quick to dismiss art making. If you feel the need to create rather than just consume, it’s quite helpful to get it out.”



We’re speaking with James Brett, director of The Museum of Everything, an itinerant gallery dedicated to the promotion and representation of "untrained, unintentional, undiscovered and unclassifiable artists" – as apt a description of outsider artists as you'll find. Outsider artists are self-taught artists. They come from any walk of life and are of all ages. Some are disabled, some aren’t. Some went to art school. Most didn’t.



Brett is in town for a conference hosted by the University of Melbourne aims to create dialogue around the current of international enthusiasm around outsider art. (The 2013 Venice Biennale included several exhibitions by outsider/self-taught artists).



Accompanying Brett’s appearance at the event is the Australian premiere of Turning the Art World Inside Out, a new documentary by director Jack Cocker.



The film is an intriguing survey of marginalised artists around the world. Often working in seclusion and away from the trappings of the art market, the work is hard to pin down but easy to enjoy. The diversity of these characters is impressive – an octogenarian sex-crazed Russian woman, a Romanian refugee obsessed with UFOs and a down-right gifted autistic Japanese sculptor working in almost total seclusion.



In Austria, a mental asylum founded specifically to host talented artists is producing significant results. Many of the artists are exhibiting internationally and the success is bringing radical postive change to their situations.



“Contemporary artists love this kind of work. The visual information in this material has inspired artists such as Basquiat and even Damian Hirst", Brett says.



Brett is an advocate for the promotion and recognition of this kind of work. For him, there is latent bigotry in the art world that needs to be challenged.



“As human beings we are creative creatures. Creative expression is as necessary as eating or sleeping."



Turning the Art World Inside Out is being screened at Speakeasy Cinema, Capitol Theatre Melbourne, 113 Swanston Street, Melbourne as part of an international Outsider Art event being hosted by the University of Melbourne.



Doors and bar open at 5pm. The screening is at 5.30pm and there will be a Q&A at 6.45pm with James Brett and Paul Gough, pro-vice chancellor at College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University.



To win a double pass, email your phone number to win@broadsheet.com.au with ‘Inside Out’ as the subject line and we’ll pick a winner on Saturday.



Tickets available at: speakeasycinema.com.au/film/turning-the-art-world-inside-out/