Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry
The bizarre decision to have only artists collectives nominated has resulted in a wonky show that ranges from a recreation of a 1980s Northern Irish gay bar to pretentious prattling about fish
Celebrating the creativity of people who see the world in a non-standard way has a radical history in art. It goes back to the German doctor Hans Prinzhorn and his collection of asylum patients’ art that inspired the expressionists and surrealists. And let’s not forget the greatest outsider artist of all, Vincent van Gogh.
Yet it’s one thing for art experts to hail outsiders. It’s another to abolish the line between outside and inside, to include such art in the culture of the establishment on equal terms. But that is what Project Art Works do in their emotional room in this year’s Turner prize exhibition. Project Art Works provide the materials, space, tutoring and exhibiting opportunities for people they term neurodiverse to make art. They get my vote and I suspect the popular vote too.
