Diagnose F20 explores the intersection of neurodiversity, art and society; the title refers to the diagnosis of 'schizophrenia', currently still rarely discussed in public. The artistic positioning will be followed by a panel/audience discussion with those affected and/or a specialist doctor.

Inspired by the composer Hildegard von Bingen and the Swiss Art Brut artist Adolf Wölfli, we question the boundaries between visionary ecstasy and psychiatric diagnosis. With our unique range of instruments - from natural tone horns to industrial quartz mirrors - we create an experimental soundscape that combines past and future, spirituality and technology. Visualizing spaces of perception and sound in real time. Through improvisation and musical experiments, the project aims to explore new perspectives on artistic creative processes beyond neuronormative boundaries. Our project explores the tension between pathologizing and sacralizing neurodiversity.

The question is how artistic positions - or visions, in both spiritual and psychiatric contexts - can be understood as legitimate forms of expression of human existence.

In this context, we will examine the (life) works of Hildegard von Bingen, whose visionary ecstasy was sanctioned and considered sacred, and Adolf Wölfli, a schizophrenic offender in the psychiatric clinic near Bern/Switzerland. Hildegard's texts and songs are set in dialog with Wölfli's surreal, hallucinatory mental images. In this arrangement, we explore the field of tension between visionary ecstasy and diagnosed 'madness', because we are looking for the border area in which artistic processes also take place - or claim that artistic formulations alone can make a statement about this.

A panel discussion with those affected is planned afterwards.

Vocal: Ingala Fortagne
Horns: Gundolf Nandico
Percussion: Pina Bettina Rücker
Video/Animation: Pascal Grütter


A production by the ensemble Echo_von_nichts and Gundolf Nandico in cooperation with the Schaubühne