On 14 February 2025 in Ljubljana, the team of the Museum of Madness received the 2024 Renata Ažman Award for outstanding achievements in the field of mental health. The Poglej! association awarded the Museum of Madness the award for its campaign "WHAT A MADHOUSE!" (in slovenian Kakšna norišnica!), which reminded the public that people still exist in institutions.
In its justification, Poglej! association said:
The Museum of Madness Trate is a special institution on the northern edge of Slovenia, a monument to a past humanism, or the way people 50, 80 years ago thought of helping other people. People who would not have been able to survive in the outside world were handed over to institutions, all of which were located somewhere isolated, preferably in old, decaying castles and manor houses, and some semblance of life was organised for them there.
However humane and friendly the staff in these institutions were, they were closed institutions and end stations for the vast majority of users.
Cmurek Castle on the Austrian border, just above the Mura River and town of Mureck on the other side, was one such institution, linked to Hrastovec Institution. In 2004, Trate was closed down and a group of enthusiasts came up with the idea of a MUSEUM OF MADNESS in the decaying castle, a monument not only to the old, long-gone times, but also to the fact that even today the 'institutional care' for people with various disabilities still looks quite similar to life in Trate half a century ago. The museum is a monument to the old, long-gone times, and to the fact that even today, the 'institutional care' for people with various disabilities looks quite similar to life in Trate half a century ago.
Fortunately, the state, even with the reminder from Trate, has decided that the content of 'social institutions' does not belong in the 21st century, but since this process is slow and the relocation of users to the community is accompanied by all sorts of complications and delays, the action is WHAT A MADNESS! (in slo. Kakšna norišnica!), which the Museum of Madness launched last year to remind the public that people still exist in institutions, is a remarkable reminder to society to humanize itself and stop hiding its strange, unusual and demanding members behind the walls of medieval castles. The Museum of Madness team has used this petition to knock on the hearts of decision-makers and fellow citizens alike, and to demand, on behalf of the powerless, that we become equally humane to all people.
That is why the Museum of Madness will receive the 2024 Renate Ažman Award for outstanding achievements in the field of mental health.