Uniform und Eigensinn

/ zeitraumexit @ T6/18 / Talk / german / 16+ yrs / 

With the 2014/2015 exhibition "Uniform and Defiance", the Prinzhorn Collection in Heidelberg and the Militärhistorisches Museum der Bundeswehr in Dresden offered a new perspective on the militarism of the German Empire and the Great War by presenting, for the first time, artistic drawings and sculptures reflecting how civilian psychiatric patients perceived these events. Several hundred works from the collection, most of them previously unpublished and dating from 1880 to 1925, were examined in an interdisciplinary research project funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. The project was conducted in cooperation with the Institute for the History and Ethics of Medicine in Heidelberg and the Military History Museum in Dresden. Around 150 of these works were selected for the exhibition. The pieces respond to the militarism of contemporary society or – far from the front lines – to the war itself. They act like a lens, intensifying or distorting key social moods and themes to the point of stark recognition. The lecture offers insights into this project. 

PD Dr. phil. Thomas Röske (*1962), Head of the Prinzhorn Collection Heidelberg since 2002. 1991 PhD in art history in Hamburg, 1993-99 university assistant in Frankfurt, 2015 habilitation there. Teaches at the universities of Heidelberg and Frankfurt. President of the European Outsider Art Association (EOA) since 2012.

Photo: Adam Ginand, „Krieg“, September, 12th 1919, Pen in ink, pencil, copying pen and brush in watercolor on cardboard, 22,9 x 30,5 cm, SP Inv.Nr. 2679