In France, in relation with the many sites in that country, there has always been interest in the phenomenon. Although there also were other approaches, due to the strong influence of Dubuffet's art brut concept, developed in the years after WWII, many French approaches of art environments have been embedded in the art brut/outsider art frame. So the time line will list some general works about art brut/outsider art that also pay attention to art environments, but it does not present the history of art brut and so it will not begin in the late 1940s/early 1950s when Dubuffet developed and published his theory and organized expositions.
1962
* publication of Gilles Ehrmann's photobook Les inspirés et leur demeures
1966
* first INSITA triennale in Bratislava
1969
* Palais Idéal classified as monument historique (first public recognition of the value of an art environment by a European government)
1972
* publication of Roger Cardinal's Outsider Art
1975
* Les demeures imaginaires, an early movie (edited by Eric Duvivier, Laboratoire Sandoz, Basel) about the art environments of Simon Rodia, Karl Junker and Picassiette was published
1976
* opening of the Collection d'Art Brut in Lausanne
1977
* publication of Bernard Lassus' Jardins Imaginaires
* exposition Les Bâtisseurs de l'imaginaire, Chartres, photographs of Claude and Clovis Prévost
1978
* exposition Les singuliers de l'art in Paris
* publication of Les inspirés du bord des routes by Jacques Verroust and Jacques Lacarrière
1980
* publication of M. Schuyt, J. Eiffer and G. Collin's Les bâtisseurs du rève
1981
* the city of Chartres becomes owner of Maison Picassiette
1983
* opening of la Fabuloserie, France
1984
* opening of the musée de l'Aracine, Neuilly s. Marne
* founding of Art en Marge, Brussels
* publication of Francis David's Guide de l'art insolite: Nord/Pas de Calais/Normandie
1986
* opening Art Naif museum in Halle Saint-Pierre, Paris (renamed 1995)
1989
* opening of Outsider Art Museum, Moscow
* first issue of Raw Vision
* start of Création Franche, Bègles
1990
* publication of Les bâtisseurs de l'imaginaire by Claude and Clovis Prévost
(republished in 2016 in an enlarged edition)
* publication of Claude Arz' La France insolite
1991
* first issue of French magazine Gazogène
1994
* opening of Stadshof museum, Netherlands
1995
* publication of John Maizel's Art Brut/Raw Creation
1996
* donation of the l'Aracine collection to the Lille Art Museum
* founding of Luna Rossa open air museum, Caen
* publication of Olivier Thibaut's Bonjour aux promeneurs
1998
* first issue of French magazine Zon'art (published until 2008, not available anymore on internet)
1999
* Journeys into the Outside, a TV series by Jarvis Cocker, was broadcasted on BBC Channel 4
* founding of Bruno Decharme's ABCD collection
* publication of John Maizel and Deidi Schaewen's Fantasy worlds
2000
* publication of Colin Rhodes' Outsider art, spontaneous alternatives
* exhibition at Kaustinen Folks Art Center, Finland, of reactions received on a call of the Finnish Association for Rural Culture and Education, asking people for suggestions of what they considered today's visual creativity of everyday life, the official beginning of ITE-art in Finland
* start of the project Contemporary folk art in Europe - equal rights to creativity (Finland, Estonia, Italy, Hungary, UK, coordinated by Contemporary Folk Art Museum, Finland
2002
* Dutch Stadshof collection moves to dr Guislain museum, Gent, Belgium
2003
* international conference Manifestations of contemporary folk art and outsider art, Kaustinen, Finland
2004
* exposition Outsider Art - everyday creativity (Finnish and Hungarian folk art) and international conference Everyday Art in Budapest (in the context of the equal rights in creativity project)
2005
* start of French weblog Animula Vagula
* exposition In another world, Kiasma museum, Finland
2006
* start of Spanish weblog El Hombre Jazmin
* publication of Escultecturas margivagantes: la arquitectura fantástica en España, Ed. by Juan Antonio Ramirez
2007
* start of French weblog le Poignard Subtil (by Bruno Montpied)
* start of French weblog Les grigris de Sophie (edited by Sophie Lepetit)
2008
* publication of Eva di Stefano's Irregolari. Art brut e outsider art in Sicilia and establishing research group under her guidance Osservatorio Outsider Art (University of Palermo)
* start of Dutch weblog Outsider Environments Europe (by Henk van Es)
* exposition British Outsider Art in Halle Saint-Pierre, Paris
2009
*start of the travelling exposition Annan Konst (outsider art from Nordic countries) in Göteborg, Sweden
*founding of the European Outsider Art Association
*exposition Backyard Genius, Verbeke Foundation, Kemzeke, Belgium
2010
* publication of Minna Haveri's study Nykykantansaide (contemporary folk art in Finland)
* start of French weblog of Jean-Michel Chesné
* re-opening of the Lille Art Museum with wing for the Aracine at brut collection
* first issue of Italian on-line magazine Rivista dell' Osservatorio Outsider Art (University of Palermo)
* founding of Collectif de Réflexion autour de l'art brut CRAB, France
* start of Italian website Costruttori di Babele, authored by Gabriele Mina (art environments Italy)
* exposition ITE art and the Kalevala, Espoo, Finland
2011
* publication of Gabriel Mina (red), Costruttori di Babele, Sulla tracce di architecture fantastische e universe irregulari in Italia
* publication of ITE Art in Finland, edited by Seppo Knuuttila (Maahenki, Finland)
* start of Finnish website ITE-net (folk art environments Finland)
* start of the new website about Veijo Rönkkönen's sculpture park
* publication of Bruno Montpied's Éloge des jardins anarchiques
* premiere of the French film Bricoleurs de Paradis (by Rémy Ricordeau/Bruno Montpied)
2012
* founding of the association Patrimoines Irréguliers de France
* exposition of Italian outsider art in Halle Saint-Pierre, Paris
* exposition of three Italian creators of art environments, Rome
* start of the new website about Jean Linard's Cathedrale
* the website of SPACES appears in a completely revised version, including a documentation of art environments around the world
* start of the new Spanish webmagazine Bric-à-Brac (link not available anymore)
2013
* start of Italian weblog about art environments and irregular art in Tuscia
* opening of the Casa-Museo Pietro Moschini in Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
* first ever meeting of the Interest Group of Environments under auspices of the European Outsider Art Association
* start of Facebook page Outsider Art Environments Europe
* publication of Jo Farb Hernandez' book Singular Spaces, a scholarly discussion of some forty Spanish art environments
* start of weblog De l'art improbable aux jardins insolites dans l'Aude et les environs
2014
* meeting in Paris of the interest group of outsider environments in connection with the annual general assembly of the European Outsider Art Association
* founding of an association to save the art environment Farm with the airplanes in France after the death of its creator Arthur Vanabelle (the association was dissolved after a private party bought the property; some twenty items have been saved and will be in a local museum)
2015
* Italian website Costruttori di Babele, began in 2010, ads a translation into english of its texts
* end May: "Heterotopias", international conference on art environments in Europe, Palermo, Messina (the interest group of art environments discusses ways of protecting art environments)
* in summer a group of volunteers (student of architectures) were active in fencing and restoring part of Chomo's Village d'art préludien, a first phase of a project that aims to save the site for the future
* french weblog about art brut and environments Animula Vagula, started in 2005, after ten years terminates its activities early September 2015
* in November publication of the book D'Étonnants jardins en Nord-Pas de Calais, which presents some twenty art environments (of which some fifteen created by people employed by a mining company)
* in December it became known that Bonaria Manca's house, the wall paintings and other creations included, has been awarded a protected status by the Italian department of culture
2016
* in February it was announced in the regional press that Bonaria Manca's house in the future will become a museum
* on June 2 Josep Pujiula i Vila, creator of an imposing art environment in Argelaguer, Spain, passed away at age 79
* on June 28 Roberta Trapani defended at the National Institute of Art History, Paris, her doctoral thesis Patrimoines irréguliers en France et en Italie. Origines, artification, regard contemporain (Irregular heritages in France and Italy. Origins, artification, contemporary view)
2017
* on January 10 Laurent Danchin passed away; french author of a large variety of books and articles, mainly about art brut and outsider art and curator of expositions in these fields, Danchin was also actively engaged in saving art environments, such as Petit Pierre's Manège (la Fabuloserie), Jean Linard's Cathédrale, but especially Chomo's Village préludien
* in November a voluminous book was published in France including an inventory of (almost) all folk art environments in France: Bruno Montpied, Le Gazouillis des éléphants (The chirping of the elephants), Paris (Ed du Sandre), 2017. -936 p. The first of its kind in France, the inventory presents some 305 folk art environments, in particular those made by self-taught artists with a naive or folk art appearance. See also the page with the annotated bibliography
* late December it was announced that the sculptures in Gabriel Albert's sculpture garden in Nantillé, France, would be refurbished. The cracks will be filled, the mosses and mushrooms removed and a layer of wax will be applied to protect the sculptures.
2018
* in February the Association of friends of Chomo launched a new website about Chomo (1907-1999)(not available anymore)
* also in February the Madrid newspaper ABC reported that the city council of Mejorada del Campo unanimously supported a motion to initiate the procedure to designate the Cathedral of Justo Gallego Martinez as a Bien de Interés Cultural (which includes a protected status). The local directors will draw up a report on this matter and submit it to the Consejería de Cultura de la Comunidad de Madrid
* around March a new website was published featuring Samuel Jónsson (1884-1969), a farmer who when retired began creating an art environment around his house located in a remote, sparsely populated part of western Iceland. This website collects and publishes information about Jónsson’s life and works and reports about the progress of the project to renovate the site and transform it into a museum
* on March 12 a book entitled La Pinturitas (=María Ángeles Fernández) was published. Edited by Hervé Couton and with contributions from Laurent Danchin, Jo Farb Hernandez and Sarah Lombardi the book through many photographs presents the murals Fernàndez added to the exterior and interior walls of an abandoned restaurant in Arguelas, Spain
* on March 15 the Lille Art Museum, France, published its website about art environments, entitled Habitants-paysagistes. Cartographie des maisons et jardins singuliers
* on May 28 the first issue in a new appearance of the Spanish internet magazine Bric-a-Brac (about outsider art and art environments) was published The magazine now has an independent status and a new director (Giada Carraro)
* early June the Italian website Costruttori di Babele (available since medio 2010) appeared in a fully renewed lay out. In addition to some informative reviews, the familiar overview of art environments known in Italy so far, ordered by region, now appears in a contemporary design and with a variety of illustrations.
* in June it was reported that the the vacant Maison de la Gaieté in Cherac, France, a café-restaurant that between 1937 and 1952 was decorated with mosaic and which was in danger of being demolished. was bought by a private party that aims to bring the site back to its original state while preserving all mosaic
* in September the Walloon Heritage Minister asked the Walloon Heritage Agency to proceed with the opening of an investigation with a view to the possible classification as a monument of the Eben-Ezer tower in Eben-Emael, in Belgium, north of Liège
* in September Pavel Konečný for the first time reported about a so far undocumented art environment in Croatia, created from the 1960s until the 1990s by Emilan Grgurić (1919-1997)
2019
* in April it was announced that the Musée de la vie rural (Museum of rural life) in Steenwerck, France had arranged the financing to add an expansion to the museum to accommodate some fifteen creations by Arthur Vanabelle (1922-2014), that give a representative impression of his former art environment.
* on July 4 in Draguignan, France, the new museum dedicated to Danielle Jacqui was inaugurated. The ORGANuGAMMusEum, housed in the ancient Romanesque Chapelle Saint-Sauveur, specially made available for this purpose by the municipality, comprises around 150 works dating from 1970 to the present
2020
* an exposition in Budapest (January-March) drew attention to a demolished and forgotten art environment created by József Balogh, a resident of a village in Slovakia, who from 1978 to 2008 decorated the exterior of his house with mosaics and all kinds of objects he found along the way.
* in February it was announced that 2020 would be a year of jubilee in Finland, since twenty years ago the first exhibition of ITE-art took place. In an article, republished on OEE-texts, Raija Kallioinen looked back on twenty years of ITE- art; the article was followed by a list of exhibitions and other activities in 2020 to celebrate this anniversary
* in February also a new magazine about outsider art was published, entitled Outsider art & Co; this bilingual magazine (French and English) will appear three times a year
* on July 9 a new website was launched entitled The Keepers Project. A collaboration between interviewer David Clegg and photographer Thierry Bal, this project documents threatened art environments in the UK made by self-taught artists. The website has interviews with the artists or those who are engaged in preserving their legacy.
* in Finland a project has started to mark ITE locations (art environments, museums and other outsider art sights) in a map. For the south of the country, such a map became available on Google streetview. The fold-out side panel of the map has pictures and information about each location, such as address, eventual visiting times, a link to a relevant website, etc.
* in February it was announced that 2020 would be a year of jubilee in Finland, since twenty years ago the first exhibition of ITE-art took place. In an article, republished on OEE-texts, Raija Kallioinen looked back on twenty years of ITE- art; the article was followed by a list of exhibitions and other activities in 2020 to celebrate this anniversary
* in February also a new magazine about outsider art was published, entitled Outsider art & Co; this bilingual magazine (French and English) will appear three times a year
* on July 9 a new website was launched entitled The Keepers Project. A collaboration between interviewer David Clegg and photographer Thierry Bal, this project documents threatened art environments in the UK made by self-taught artists. The website has interviews with the artists or those who are engaged in preserving their legacy.
* in Finland a project has started to mark ITE locations (art environments, museums and other outsider art sights) in a map. For the south of the country, such a map became available on Google streetview. The fold-out side panel of the map has pictures and information about each location, such as address, eventual visiting times, a link to a relevant website, etc.
* on October 17th Bonaria Manca died
2021
In January it was reported that the Art Brut Museum in Montpellier, France, on an exterior terrace had installed a wall frescoe of 3x5 meter, part of the Colossal d Art Brut ORGANuGAMME II created by Danielle Jacqui
* in February it was formally announced that the creations made by Pierre Martelanche (1849-1922), re-discovered in 2011, will be housed in the Joseph-Déchelette Museum in Roanne, a town in the Loire area, France, near the village where Martelanche lived
* in April a contribution about the Ferdinand Cheval's Palais Ideal was published on the website Google Art and Culture, with a lot of photos and a lot of informative material such as the history of the site, a reproduction of Cheval's last interview (1919) and an illustrated collection of the quotes that Cheval added to his creation.
* On September 3 Pierre Darcel, creator of an art environment in Brittany, passed away at age 86
* early November reports appeared in the Spanish press that Father Ángel, who is president of the organization Mensajeros de la Paz (Messengers of Peace) has received Justo Gallego's Cathedral (under construction for 60 years now) as a donation, this with the intention of completing the construction
* in the early hours of on Sunday November 28 Justo Gallego Martinez passed away; the authorities of Mejorada del Campo announced three days of mourning
* in November a Spanish newspaper reported that Julio Basanta López' art environment Casa de Dios was bought by an inhabitant of Zaragoza, which gives good hope with regard to the future of the site
2022
* Throughout the year 2022, there were activities in Russia as part of a marginal art festival. with an exhibition at the All-Russian Museum of Decorative Arts, a touring exhibition, lectures and the shooting of a film about art environments (which may be completed in 2023).
* Denny Simonnet, creator of an art environment on the Isle of Noirmoutier, France, died late April 2022
* In June, the l' Aracine collection, donated to the Lille Art Museum, had its 40th anniversary, which was celebrated in November in the Halle Saint Pierre in Paris with a gathering of people involved in l'Aracine and the museum
* Erkki Känkänen, creator of an art environment in Finland, died on July 7, 2022
* The Colossal d'Art Brut ORGANuGAMME, a large-scale installation by Danielle Jacqui situated outside of the Museum Ferme des Tilleuls, Switzerland, was officially inaugurated on November 5, 2022
* Mario Andreoli, born in 1928, who, from the 1980s, staged an annual Christmas scene of hundreds of handcrafted illuminated two-dimensional angels and other figures on a hillside in Manarola, Italy, passed away on December 22 at age 94. His project, which attracts many visitors, has already been supported by an association that will continue the illumination, which takes place annually in December and January
2023
* On January 11, Bruno Montpied reported on his weblog that the more than lavishly decorated bicycle of Andre Pailloux has been added to the collection of the Musée de la Création Franche (Bègles)
* This year La Fabuloserie has existed for forty years, which is being celebrated with an exhibition in the Halle Saint Pierre, Paris, from January 25 - August 25
* In April the website Cartographie-des-Rocamberlus by Sonia Terhzaz was published, a representation of the encounters she had from around 2013 with creators of art environments in France
* Alpo Koivumäki (1939-2023), who not only created a well-known art environment near his farm in Finland, but also as artist in residence contributed sculptures to La Fabuloserie (France) and the Thurgau Kunstmuseum (Switzerland), passed away on May 13
* In June, the frescoed house of Polina Rayko (1928-2004), a Ukrainian classic, was largely destroyed by a flood caused by a deliberate dam break in a neighboring river, an event in Russia's war with Ukraine
* In June Jo Farb Hernandez published Singular Spaces II, a new inventory of art environments in Spain (more about this on the page with the annotated bibliography
2024
* On May 4 Joseph Donadello who created an art environment in Saint-Lyc, France, passed away at age 96. A part of his creations has been included in the collection of the Musée les Amoureux d'Angélique in Carla Bayle.
* On June 29 Art park Middle of Nowhere in Finland, directed by Teijo Monni and Pertti Riikonen, first opened
Great timeline. Thank you.
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