A Special Presentation – Francesc Tosquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut

Thu Apr 18, 2024 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT

American Folk Art Museum

This special event presented an exclusive look at the new exhibition about the Spanish psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles and featured a conversation about advances in the field of psychiatry and mental health followed by private tours of the exhibition.
Guests joined the Queen Sofía Spanish Institute and the American Folk Art Museum for an after-hours event with unique perspectives on the new exhibition, private tours, and light refreshments.

Event Details:

• 6:00 Doors Open
• 6:30 Presentation by Dr. Luis Rojas Marcos and Dr. Carles Guerra
• 7:00 Tours and Refreshments
  • 7:15 Tour of Exhibition with Dr. Carles Guerra
  • 7:35 Tour of Exhibition with Dr. Carles Guerra
  • 7:55 Tour of Exhibition with Dr. Carles Guerra

About the Speakers:

• Dr. Luis Rojas Marcos is a Spanish psychiatrist born in 1943 in Seville, from whose university he graduated in Medicine in 1968. He later obtained a doctorate in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Bilbao (1975) and in Medical Sciences from the State University of New York (1977).Specialized in psychiatry, in 1981 he was appointed Director of Psychiatric Services of the New York City public hospital network. Rojas Marcos’ most recognized contribution in this position was the creation of Project HELP (Homeless Emergency Liaison Project), the first mobile medical service to care for and hospitalize severely mentally ill homeless homeless people, a program that serves as a model for urban centers both Americans and other countries.In 1992, Rojas Marcos, also in New York, was appointed Commissioner of Mental Health, which is equivalent to being the head of the city’s municipal mental health, alcoholism and drug services. In 1995 he was chosen by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to be CEO of the New York Public Health and Hospital System. He has also worked for, among others, CommonSpirit Health, the fourth largest hospital system in the United States, and as a Professor of Psychiatry at New York University.In Spain, he has been a trustee of the La Caixa Foundation, he is a Doctor Honoris Causa from the universities of Ramón Llull, the Basque Country and Burgos, in addition to collaborating with institutions dedicated to social and health issues.He is the author of numerous opinion articles and several books, among which The City and its Challenges, The Broken Couple, The Seeds of Violence (1995 Espasa Essay Award), Our Happiness, Beyond September 11 and The Force of Optimism stand out among others. (Credits: luisrojasmarcos.com)

• Carles Guerra (Amposta, 1965) holds a PhD from Universitat de Barcelona. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Universitat de Barcelona and the Media Studies Department, The New School for Social Research. He has pursued a career in art criticism, teaching and research. His most recent profile has been associated with outstanding positions in the field of cultural management, cultural policies and curatorial activities. He has been director of Primavera Fotogràfica de Catalunya, director of the Virreina Centre de la Imatge, chief curator at Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona MACBA and, from 2015 through 2020, executive director at Fundació Antoni Tàpies.His main line of research has often delved into dialogical practices, in the field of both art and visual culture. Critical pedagogies, documentary practices and the working conditions of cultural production under Post-Fordism have been a predominant subject in his many publications. He has been associate professor at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and faculty member at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. He has frequently taught as visiting professor at many other institutions and universities, i. e. Goldsmiths University of London, Universidade Catolica de Portugal, Kontsfack University College of Art Craft and Design Stockholm and Programa d’Estudis Independents PEI Centre d’Estudis i Documentació MACBA Barcelona, among many others.On top of a vast number of monographic exhibitions devoted to individual artists such as Perejaume, Joaquim Jordà, Xavier Ribas, Ahlam Shibli, Art & Language, Allan Sekula, Susan Meiselas, Harun Farocki, Oriol Vilanova and Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, he has curated projects like 1979. A Monument to Radical Instants and Antoni Tàpies. Political Biography. These last two projects responded to an ongoing commitment to rethink the legacy of modernism from a perspective that urges to articulate a potential history of our past. (Credits: transartinstitute.org)