Ego Documents – Press Text Specific needs of expression or reformulations of the ego are ignited by the experience of existential events and crises. The artworks that emerge are not merely an oeuvre, but simultaneously the construction of the ego and self-manifestation. The boundaries between a creating self and a created art-self dissolve. This exhibition encompasses various artistic positions. What they all have in common is the constant circling around, representation, explaining, reinterpretation, or even invention of the self. Pietro Angelozzi (1925–2015) never wanted to create ‘art.’ In fact, he followed a divine mandate to tell the world of his seven visions. In continually retold illustrated stories, which he composed using pocket dictionaries in various languages, he describes the events of his divine experiences and his own enlightenment – a life document of divine experience. Anton Bernhardsgrütter (Anton B. lpc, b. 1925) reflects on himself in countless drawings and paintings. In 1973 he broke with his previous life and devoted himself to art. ‘He seems to have lost his “self” in the ’30s,’ he writes. This is why he speaks in the third person and splits himself into three personalities: the critical satirist and chronicler Anton Brenzligugger, the ‘coarse farm hand Franz Grubenmann, a man driven by instinct,’ and the ‘educated figure of imaginary journeys, the constant elsewhere, Joseph Kremar.’ A fourth facet is his granddaughter Saskia-Corina, a projected figure who embodies all his unrealized hopes. He signs his name ‘Anton B. lpc’ (‘le pauvre cochon,’ or ‘the poor pig’). Parzival and Emil Manser cross the boundary between the experienced self and the art self; they embody their ideas. The self-proclaimed ‘green shoe pharaoh’ and ‘Ambassadeur du Soleil’ Parzival acts as a ‘world government’ and subjects his entire existence and actions to the idea of world peace as well as environmental consciousness. Though politically motivated, his agitations are so artistically designed that they become a never-ending life performance. With an installation and performances at the Museum im Lagerhaus, Parzival’s work is being exhibited for the first time in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. Like Parzival in Sonceboz near Biel, the street artist and philosopher Emil Manser (1951–2004) was known in Lucerne as a local personality who irritated and unsettled the public in various roles with his poster art. He was called an ‘oddball’ and a ‘troublemaker,’ but also a ‘visionary.’ With his appellative posters, he addressed – and provoked – everyone. As a printer by training, his spelling mistakes are not mistakes at all, but intentional, ‘deliberately made and used’ with an enjoyment of wordplay. He is the fool who holds the mirror up to society, who oversteps boundaries in order to act creatively in this free space. Werner Baptista’s (1946–2012) extensive work ranges from large-format acrylic paintings to smaller drawings and countless journals and notebooks filled with drawings and collages in which he acts out his ego, always circling around himself. He projects personal experiences onto the world outside and grapples with himself by reckoning with world events.

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Rudolf Heinrichshofen (1858–1945) saw his life story reflected in the collapse of the state and society during the First World War. To him, the powerlessness of the citizens was exemplified in his incapacitation and confinement to an institution for the mentally ill, which he bitterly protested. He compensated his hopeless situation with ridicule for the system that controlled him and created an ornate manuscript in 1919 at the Hildburghausen asylum, which is now at the Prinzhorn Collection in Heidelberg. The book has been digitized so that visitors can browse through it and read it on a screen. Videos of Parzival and Emil Manser show the acting of these extraordinary artists.

With the friendly support of: Kanton St. Gallen, Kulturförderung

Stadt St. Gallen

Kulturförderung Appenzell Ausserrhoden

Mary und Max Steinmann Stiftung des Rotary Clubs St. Gallen

Walter und Verena Spühl-Stiftung

St. Galler Tagblatt

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Ego Documents – Press pictures The Press pictures can be downloaded on our webseite: http://www.museumimlagerhaus.ch/en/service/presse/ The download area for high-res press pictures is password protected. Please ask us for the login: [email protected]

Pietro Angelozzi (1925–2015) „Il Racconto della Visione“, undatiert Mischtechnik, Fotografien auf Papier, collagiert, 60 × 80 cm © Museum im Lagerhaus, Stiftung für schweizerische Naive Kunst und Art Brut

Pietro Angelozzi (1925–2015) „Visioni del Ventesimo Secolo 23-10-1950“ (links), „Visioni del Ventesimo Secolo la Notte del 31.12.1951“ (rechts), undatiert Acryl auf Spiegelglas, 100,5 × 49 cm © Museum im Lagerhaus, Stiftung für schweizerische Naive Kunst und Art Brut

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Werner Baptista (1946-2012) „Der Künstler im Sonntagskleid“, 1.3.1989 Collage (Acryl, Haushaltsschwamm auf Papiercouvert), 23 × 16,1 cm © Museum im Lagerhaus, Stiftung für schweizerische Naive Kunst und Art Brut

Anton Bernhardsgrütter (Anton B. lpc, geb. 1925) “E poi bisognerebbe dire è troppo tardi caro mio Anton B. lpc”, 1979 Acryl auf Leinwand, 46,5 × 34 cm © Museum im Lagerhaus, Stiftung für schweizerische Naive Kunst und Art Brut

Rudolf Heinrichshofen (1858-1945) Buch mit Bildergeschichten zum Zeitgeschehen und illustrierter Autobiografie, um 1919 Mischtechnik, 34,7 × 26,3 cm © Sammlung Prinzhorn, Klinik für allgemeine Psychiatrie, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg

Emil Manser (1951-2004) „Der Täter grüsste ohne Motiv“, undatiert Foto: Wajo Meyer, Lurzern ©

Emil Manser (1951-2004) „Möchte Heiraten egal Wen“, 1995 Foto und Grafik: Melk (Melchior) Imboden, Buochs ©

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Parzival Foto: Adrien Horni, Biel, © Turbo Magazine

Poster of the exhibition „Ego Documents“, Museum im Lagerhaus

Flyer of the exhibition „Ego Documents“, Museum im Lagerhaus

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