An exhibition, book presentation and public discussion with and by Domenico Mangano & Marieke van Rooy
Who do we allow to live among us and how do we exclude? With variable intensity the question whether psychiatric patients and people with intellectual disabilities can, may or should live among ‘normal’ people has been a subject of debate since the beginning of the twentieth century. The project Homestead of Dilution looks at the Nieuw Dennendal experiment (1969-1974) where psychologist Carel Muller and architect Frans van Klingeren devised an alternative model for ‘deranged’ and ‘healthy’ people to live and play together on the secure property of a psychiatric institution. Nieuw Dennendal, widely considered to be the most ground-breaking experiment in Dutch post-war health care, has become relevant again as more and more mentally distressed people appear in the streets.
The experiment has a special relationship with Eindhoven. After a number of scandals, the government ordered the evacuation of Nieuw Dennendal in 1974. The staff was discharged and the patients were ‘deported’ to the psychiatric institution De Grote Beek in Eindhoven. The action divided public attention in The Netherlands. The present relevance of Nieuw Dennendal is demonstrated by the film Homestead of Dilution by Domenico Mangano and Marieke van Rooy. A symbolic piece of the façade of one of the pavilions where the experiment was conducted is displayed in the middle of Onomatopee’s exhibition space. Furthermore, attached n the Onomatopee "shopwindow" are the Dilution adhesives (2017), initially made to be included in the publication.
