François Pain’s Art as a Path to Salvation
Title: Art as Therapy: François Pain and the Radical Legacy of Institutional Psychotherapy
In the world of avant-garde cinema and progressive mental health treatment, few figures inspire as multifaceted a dialogue as François Pain. His newest exhibition, “Psychiatry is what Psychiatrists do,” currently on view at JOAN in Los Angeles, presents a retrospective of experimental video works that blend psychiatry, filmmaking, and politics into one compelling narrative. Through a radical lens, Pain’s art uncovers the potential of collective creativity within healthcare spaces and revisits Institutional Psychotherapy’s trailblazing contributions to humane psychiatric care.
La Borde and Saint-Alban: Laboratories of Liberation
François Pain’s unlikely journey as both psychiatrist and artist dovetails with the philosophical and sociopolitical currents of Institutional Psychotherapy (IP), a transformative approach to mental healthcare developed in France in the 20th century. Central to this model were two institutions: La Borde Clinic and Saint-Alban Hospital. These were not traditional psychiatric institutions; rather, they were horizontal communities molded around the beliefs of Jean Oury, Félix Guattari, and François Tosquelles.
Institutional Psychotherapy acknowledged two forms of alienation suffered by individuals with mental illness: the psychological (“the alienation of the mad”) and the social (isolation and oppressive societal structures). Jean Oury’s mantra that one must “cure the hospital” before curing the patient underpinned this ideology. IP sought to dismantle rigid hierarchies separating doctor and patient, instead encouraging collaborative life within the institution. Thus, hospitals transformed into microcosms of egalitarian living, where patients and clinicians could create, work, and engage in mutual healing practices.
François Pain took these theories to heart, capturing their enactment through moving images. His dual vocation as a psychiatrist at La Borde (1965–1972) and filmmaker allowed him unparalleled access to the clinic’s daily rhythms—access he turned into visual narratives that document the everyday revolutionary practices of IP.
Cinema as Collaboration: Making Art Democratic
Nowhere is Pain’s vision more vividly realized than in his 1985 film La Vague de Cristal (The Crystal Wave). While its title evokes cataclysm, the story unexpectedly pivots to scenes from an art class. Rather than descend into despair or didacticism, the film suggests creativity as a bulwark against existential threats. The film was not Pain’s alone—it emerged from his workshop with hospital residents and patients at La Borde. In this way, it exemplifies the therapeutic value of collective production and art’s ability to democratize hierarchies.
His 1980 film Le Cahier Vert (The Green Notebook) exemplifies similar collaborative spirit and blurs the lines between patient, clinician, and audience. The film features French theorist Félix Guattari (co-author of Anti-Oedipus and a co-developer of IP at La Borde) searching for a lost notebook, appearing alongside presumed patients as co-actors in a surreal, reflexive narrative. The performance is amateurish yet intimate, challenging traditional power dynamics by portraying psychiatrist and patient on equal artistic and existential ground.
These films, presented at JOAN as part of a curated exhibition, do not merely document history—they revisit and reframe it. Pain’s visual narratives invite viewers to see psychiatric care not as containment but as a canvas for healing through participation.
The Nine-Channel Montage: A Mosaic of Healing and Struggle
The centerpiece of Pain’s exhibition is “Institutional Psychotherapy as one of the Fine Arts…” (2025), a nine-channel, nearly 25-minute video montage. It brings together disparate footage recorded by Pain over decades and juxtaposes interviews, street life, archival images, and tragic historical moments to form a collective visual diary. In one segment, Jean Oury offers a moving reflection on the “double alienation” endured by those marginalized by mental illness and broader society. This voiceover is paired with grim footage: soldiers lifting bodies, crowded subways, and scenes of police brutality.
This deliberate juxtaposition forces a confrontation with viewers’ perceptions of normalcy, alienation, and agency. More than a documentary, Pain’s multi-channel video transforms these isolated stories into a unified experience. Each screen contributes to a mosaic of social injustice and human resilience, encouraging the audience to imagine alternate methodologies for collective care. Just as La Borde encouraged active participation over passive treatment, Pain’s films refuse to offer passive viewing experiences.
Art as an Ethical Imperative
Pain’s work continues a legacy that regards art not simply as an aesthetic pursuit but as a form of care. While some may find his films dense or overly didactic, their deeper purpose is not entertainment but transformation. Pain’s work asks us to reevaluate the inherent structures of healthcare, art-making, and media consumption.
In today’s climate where mental health institutions still grapple with issues of abuse, isolation, and over-medicalization, Pain’s