Withholding and crowding as display logics in an Outsider Art exhibition: Las reglas del juego (The Rules of the Game) at MODO in Mexico City

Withholding and Crowding as Display Logics in an Outsider Art Exhibition was commissioned for the Contemporary Outsider Art section, edited by Dr. Carole Tansella, of Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, a journal published by Cambridge University Press and available through Cambridge Core.

The article examines Las reglas del juego (The Rules of the Game), an exhibition held at the Museo del Objeto del Objeto (MODO) in Mexico City in 2025, featuring artworks created by people receiving psychiatric care in penitentiary institutions. I identify two central exhibition strategies: withholding and crowding. Withholding refers to the omission of psychiatric diagnoses and criminal histories, allowing visitors to encounter the works as art rather than through institutional labels. Crowding describes the dense spatial arrangement of artworks, which shaped visitors' experiences.

My analysis reveals tensions inherent in both strategies. Withholding can protect artists from stigmatization while making institutional conditions less visible. Crowding can encourage slower, more attentive looking while making individual artistic identities harder to distinguish.

The article contributes to critical discussions about contemporary Outsider Art, representation, artistic agency, and institutional power dynamics. It argues that recognizing the conditions under which artworks are created does not mean reducing them to those circumstances. Even within highly regulated institutional environments, artistic creation can preserve a space for individual choice and expression through the possibilities of play.

References

Caballero, R (2025) Las reglas del juego [Curatorial statement]. Museo del Objeto del Objeto. https://elmodo.mx/expo/las-reglas-del-juego/. (accessed 5 May 2026)

Maclagan, D (2009) Outsider Art: From the Margins to the Marketplace. London: Reaktion Books.

Rexer, L (2005) How to Look at Outsider Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams

Tansella, C (2007) The long and winding journey of outsider art. An historical perspective. Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale 16, 133–138. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1121189X00004759.