Between 1996 and 1997, Belgian artist Michel François (b. 1956, Sint-Truiden, Belgium; lives in Brussels) collaborated with inmates-patients at TBS De Kijvelanden, a secure psychiatric unit in Rotterdam. Initially invited to create a sculpture for the prison courtyard, Michel François opted instead to undertake creative, exchange-based projects with the inmates-patients. The forms and subjects explored during this intense and transformative experience continued to develop in Michel François’ subsequent works. They remain particularly palpable in his works and exhibitions infused with an administrative aesthetic of regimented time and constrained freedoms.

 

The artist is represented by mennour (Paris) and Xavier Hufkens (Brussels)