About us
Manicómio is insanity and freedom.
We are a space for artistic creation and innovation in Lisbon. With multiple projects that bring together art, creativity, social transformation, and mental health, at the heart of the project are contemporary artists and creatives with mental illness who are excluded due to society’s stigma around madness.
We were born from over twenty years of experience in psychiatric hospitals and in the world of art and culture, where we encountered wonderful artists and works that were nevertheless excluded from Portugal’s commercial art circuits simply due to the stigma of mental illness. This led us to organise the first art exhibitions at the Júlio de Matos Psychiatric Hospital – where we created and inaugurated the contemporary art cycle of this Lisbon hospital, blending and mixing established Portuguese and international contemporary artists with hospital artists, keeping the works anonymous and breaking down the stigma barrier that judges not by the value of art, but by the illness.
In 2018 we launched Manicómio, located in a coworking space with other professionals, creatives, and companies, because we know that the future depends on the blending, appreciation, normalisation, and acceptance of madness.
Manicómio has become an
artistic and creative centre with:
Studio and Gallery
The first studio and gallery of Outsider and contemporary art in Portugal, with 14 resident artists, where we offer freedom, representation, and artistic agency in sales, exhibitions, and collabs;
The Agência
The first creative design and communication agency in the world with creatives with mental illness;
Open Therapy
A network of hubs offering psychiatry, psychology, and psychotherapy sessions in unexpected and artistic spaces;
We the Mad Ones
Experimental and immersive drawing studios in psychiatric units, with training in mental health innovation, recovery, and human rights for psychiatric workers;
About the Self
The first co-living in Portugal designed for people with experience of mental illness;
Consultancy
Consultancy and training in mental health, innovation, art and human rights;
With an approach focused on disruption, equity, and human rights, Manicómio works with the artistic community, civil society, companies, and institutions to transform the status quo and generate new value paradigms.
How to Apply
We work with artists with experience of mental illness who already have a portfolio, or with people with artistic talent that fits within the project’s artistic strategy. We are an artistic workspace where artists have professional commitments and sell their works. This is not an occupational studio, nor is it art therapy.
Manicómio operates in a familiar, close-knit environment and therefore we have limited spaces – which are currently full.
However, if you are truly interested, please send us your portfolio or images of your work via our email info@manicomio.pt
We accept works in visual arts, video, and photography.
Partners
Funding and investment
Manicómio
The Agência
We the Mad Ones
Partners
Financiamentos
Manicómio
The Agência
We the Mad Ones