For the first time, the exhibition Mutual Presence will showcase works by artists from the Collection of Outsider Art of the Museum of Contemporary Art alongside the works of artists with intellectual disabilities who are active within the inclusive gallery Art & CeRZe, Centre for Rehabilitation Zagreb. Although it is still not fully socially accepted in our country to exhibit artists without formal art education, let alone the artists who are users of the Rehabilitation Centre, within conventional exhibition spaces, this exhibition aims to show that art has always pushed boundaries, both in the perception of art itself, as well as in the acceptance of diversity.

The Collection of Outsider Art is the only one in Croatia that has been collecting works by marginal artists – outsiders – since the 1990s. The very term "marginal" suggests something that does not follow established paths but rather diverges from them. In the case of outsider art, this implies artists who, at least in our environment, are often not generally accepted in the art scene due to their different approaches and predominantly informal art education. Thus, there are always "them" who differ from "us" in one way or another. Who are "they," and who are "we"? The limitations that are continuously present in our society do not allow us to think without prejudice. In this exhibition, art provides the answer. It does not matter who is who, but what we create. The art of the "marginalized" is honest, unconventional, untamed, different. Their expression arises unburdened by predefined frameworks; they create solely for themselves.

In his book, Madonna of the Future, Arthur C. Danto wrote: " My sense is that outsider art, for all that the term suggests a state of excludedness, does not correspond to a political boundary between enfranchised and disfranchised. The true outsider is someone deeply outside the institutional framework of the art world."[1]

Thanks to Jean Dubuffet, the founder of the art brut movement, who began collecting works by "different artists" over eighty years ago, a historic breakthrough was made. In the 1950s, at the invitation of psychiatrist Leo Navratil, Dubuffet visited the Maria Gugging Psychiatric Clinic in Klosterneuburg, near Vienna, and recognized the exceptional artistic talent of certain patients. It is precisely thanks to him that some of these patients were recognized by the profession and are now part of the collections of major museums and galleries worldwide, such as MUMOK in Vienna, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Setagaya Museum in Tokyo, and others. Today, Gugging is no longer a psychiatric clinic but a unique museum with an open studio operating since 2001.

Guided by Dubuffet's policy, we let art speak for itself and erase boundaries.

"...those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses – where the worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere – are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professionals…“[2]

The existence of the Collection of Outsider Art within the museum gives us hope that there is still room on the contemporary art scene for presenting this branch of art. By including in the exhibition artists who are not part of the verified art scene, we raise the bar, wishing for artistic work to be perceived without prior questioning of "who should be an artist?"

Daniela Bilopavlović Bedenik, Head of the Collection of Outsider Art

List of exhibitors: Josip Grgurić, Nikola Skušić, Jana Rogoz, Gordana Tokić, Ivan Jakovljević, Jelena Gvozdanović, Marija Boban, Ranko Ćuća, Kristijan Žerjavić, Zdravko Krešić, Gojislav Kalapač – Goja, Stjepan Vrbanec, Elvis Berton, Melita Kraus, Margareta Vidmar, Petar Brajković, Dragutin Jurak, Božidar Štef Golub, Stjepan Bukovina, Goran Stojčetović, Ljiljana Arar, Zvonimir Bratić