the vacuum cleaner, a UK-based art collective, recently ran an exhibition called Madlove: A Designer Asylum, in which they crafted an exhibit based on people with mental illness’s description of their ideal asylum. James Leadbitter, the lead artist behind the project and someone with experience in the asylum system, has said that since the exhibition he has been a consultant on the construction of actual new asyla, not just this model in museums. What I love about Madlove is that it not only challenges our current models for asyla but also challenges who museum’s audiences are. When most people picture museum-going audiences, they may not picture those with mental illness, but the exhibit suggests that they, too, have a space in our museums. A description of the project is available here.
