Beautiful Anarchy: The Work of Johan Thorn Prikker

Marjorie Jongbloed
artist and author, Cologne

Johan Thorn Prikker was Professor for Painting at Kölner Werkschule (predecessor of KISD) from 1926 to 1932. Although his work dates back to the last century, Prikker’s life and work still confronts us with compelling insights in the complex relationships between art and artistry, art and society, and art and religion. While referring to the legacy of Aristotle, Giambattista Vico and Friedrich von Schiller – philosophers whose texts are discussed in my KISD-seminar “The Eye Is Part Of The Mind” – I will argue that Prikker’s holistic point of view offers an inspiring perspective on art and politics, especially on current re-inventions of the healing power of art. Indeed, Prikker’s apparently decorative paintings and designs were not meant to be just beautiful ornaments. Prikker‘s immense artistic oeuvre, as well as his engagement as a teacher, curator, and designer stems from the (romantic) conviction that art sets free the human imagination, creates excessive states of being and anarchy and that these experiences are indispensable for truly free creation!

Marjorie Jongbloed studied art at Rietveld Academy Amsterdam and Comparative Literature at Groningen University, Amsterdam University, and Dartmouth College, USA. She curated exhibitions and edited publications on contemporary art for museums and institutions such as Bonnefantenmuseum, Bund der deutschen Industrie, Museum Ludwig, VolkswagenStiftung, and the United Nations. Currently, she works as an independent artist and author in Cologne. She is a guest lecturer at KISD since 2015.

The talk will be held in English language.