Museum Dr. Guislain: From Asylum to Museum/Monument
Located in the first mental asylum in Belgium, the Museum Dr. Guislain is a museum on psychiatry and outsider art. In this event, Bart Marius the artistic director of the museum presented the history of the museum, introducing the audience to taboo busting pioneers who attempted to set up a museum on psychiatry in a world where other museums shied away from broaching the topic.
The narrative and the story of this museum has many links to the much longer history of psychiatry. This walkthrough focused on how the space evolved from a psychiatric institution to a museum that was set-up inside the dormitories of the institution, reframing the boundaries between the personal, the social and the institutional.
About the Clinical Psychologist
Bart Marius has been working in the Dr. Guislain Museum since 2007, first as a project leader in scientific collaboration, later as curator of numerous exhibitions (in Ghent and abroad). Since 2019, he has served as an artistic director of the museum, where he combines his interests in psychiatry and art history.
