Fool's tower

"The Vienna Fool's Tower houses the Collection of Anatomical Pathology of the Natural History Museum. It was founded in 1784 as a psychiatric hospital and was the first building in the world that was constructed for that purpose. In addition to its significance in the history of ideas, the aesthetical significance of the Fool's Tower is also thoroughly illuminated in this book. In a series of pictures entitled 'Fool's Tower', the artist and theoretician Gerhard Rihl examines the impressions gained from his visits and uses these to create oppressive, nightmarish pictures. These refer to aspects of the Fool's Tower - anatomical deformity and mental illness - that Foucault discussed multiple times using the concept of 'otherness'; they lead a shadowy existence in the collective consciousness as fear-laden and largely repressed themes - as does the Fool's Tower itself, which find itself as the poor relation of the museum sector because of its otherness. In the text section Rihl considers this theme in terms of the history of ideas and aesthetic theory"--Back cover.