The anniversary exhibition presents classics from the Prinzhorn Collection, such as the handmade banknotes by Else Blankenhorn or the reconstruction of a textile floor work by Marie Lieb. A particularly notable new addition, the hand-embroidered carpet by Emma Mohr from the 1870s, is being exhibited for the first time. Through these works, the exhibition reflects on the display practices of the past twenty-five years.

In 2001, around one hundred years after its founding, the Prinzhorn Collection was given its own museum building. Following numerous exhibitions in Germany and abroad, the collection of “institutional works” came to be regarded as “art”, and a former lecture hall of the Neurology Department was transformed into an art museum. From that point onwards, mounts, frames, appropriate hanging height, and careful lighting were intended to grant the works the same dignity as artworks displayed in other museums. This approach corresponded with the institution’s mission to contribute to the destigmatisation of people with psychiatric experience. Yet the question arises as to whether this presentation as “art” does justice to the works or, on the contrary, restricts their legibility. The exhibition attempts to go one step further: it emphasises the importance of conveying more of the artists' subjective reality by focusing more strongly on the special conditions of creation, intentions and individual experiences behind the works.