Goetheanum | Art in Action: New STIL Edition

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Art in Action: New STIL Edition

The magazine STIL. Goetheanism in Art and Science, founded in 1979 and realigned in 2020, has made art its thematic focus in the Michaeli edition.

"Art in Action" is the title, accompanied by an impressive image of the "Planet Disc Moon" by the word-script-image artist Barbara Groher, whose broad artistic spectrum is documented in the same edition through an interview. The STIL opens with an essay by the musicologist Michael Kurtz on the 90th birthday of the composer Sofia Gubaidulina and closes with a view by the architect Henning Schulze-Schilddorf on the graphic work of the sculptor and painter Christian Hitsch on his 70th birthday. These three very different artistic personalities demonstrate that all art arises from a genuine relationship to the spiritual. It is important that the artist brings spiritually perceived content into appearance in engagement with the respective material in such a way that the recipient enters an inner, self-creative movement. If the essence of art becomes visible in the three life portraits in the biographical-individual, it is shown in the other contributions through the respective field: architecture, sculpture, colour light therapy, stained glass art, painting and jewellery design open up a broad spectrum for the effectiveness of art on and for people. Almost all contributions originated from lectures at the Ascension Day conference of the Section for Visual Arts 2021 with the theme "The Importance of Art for Health, Inner Life and Society" and were written by practising artists. The approach to the respective topic is therefore always clearly perceptible as artistic.

In her introductory article, Christiane Haid addresses the fundamental questions of the system relevance of art in times of Corona and shows that it enables "ways of human development" and can lead to "self-responsibility and self-reflection." Through reflections on contemporary literary, sculptural and painterly works, it becomes immediately tangible how creating and recreating art is an act of freedom, as "man rises from reality as a product to become its producer" (Rudolf Steiner).

How architecture affects people and how it can be healing are topics addressed by the two architects Pieter van der Ree and Yaike Dunselman. Pieter van der Ree provides a historical overview of the relationship between architecture and humans, starting from the Munich Congress Hall 1907 to contemporary buildings, including the demands posed by digitalisation, and develops which skills are necessary today to imbue buildings with soul. Yaike Dunselman presents the force principles of "loads and bearing" in the new building of the Heilmittel Laboratory in Arlesheim and shows how the human being, by following these two forces, comes into an inner, musical vibration. Sculpture is an expression of life forces – Barbara Schnetzler and Rik ten Cate describe what it means to give these form through plastic works. The task is to "stand up for the living" (Barbara Schnetzler) and, one step further, to promote the "interaction between the soul and the life forces" (Rik ten Cate) in a healing way. Stained glass art and the colour light therapy derived from it hold a special position within the arts. Lucien Turci, head of the research project "Metal Colour Light Therapy," describes the fascinating process of coloured glass production and the mysterious connection of metals with the earth and humans. Bert Chases examines in his article the different effects of the light produced by the Goetheanum stained glass windows and the light produced by a computer screen. While a new sensitivity of perception is possible when viewing the windows, in the other case colours become "flat colour surfaces without inner radiance. One could call it the death of light in colour." Metals also play a major role in jewellery art. The goldsmith Anna Deimann researches metals and minerals and tries to design the jewellery in harmony with the respective wearer so that it "corresponds to individuality, like a seal." The circle of the arts is closed by the painter Emanuala Assenza. She writes about the phenomena of appearance in art that occur at the transition between the visible and the invisible.

Together with the very beautiful images and the aesthetic design by the Berlin graphic designer Wolfram Schildt, STIL itself is a small work of art that already brings joy when leafing through and invites reading.

The thematic focus of the Christmas edition is: "The Mystery of Man."