LECTURE
Thomas Weil: Who is afraid of Ornament?
11 October 2025, 5 PM
Lecture as Part of the Show and Tell Weekend:
Thomas Weil: Who is afraid of Ornament?
In his book New Grammar of Ornament (2021), Thomas Weil develops an open system of ordering ornamental forms, highlighting their aesthetic, cultural, and resistant potential: "The history of ornament is fascinating. No art form has been so vilified and yet so loved, oscillating between sublime and banal, elitist and popular. Its diversity comes from the contributions of people of all talents, from all cultures and continents. Ornament has existed ever since humans began shaping their imaginative worlds." (Thomas and Claudia Weil, Ornament in Architecture, Art and Design, 2004)
Thomas Weil is a contemporary artist, designer, architect, curator, and author. Since the 1970s, he has increasingly focused on geometric ornamentation in art, architecture, and design, traveling to study ornament in Al-Andalus (Moorish Spain), Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. From 2007 to 2017, he taught ornament art and design at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. Together with Claudia Weil, he published Ornament in Architecture, Art and Design (Callwey Verlag, Munich, 2004) and Geometric Ornament (Schiffer Publishing Ltd, USA). His most recent work is New Grammar of Ornament (Lars Müller Verlag, Zurich, 2021).
ABOUT WENDY VS. TINKERBELL
Wendy vs Tinkerbell is a bar and workshop space run by the artist Philip Wiegard at the Dortmunder Kunstverein. From 2025 to 2027, it serves as a laboratory for practical and intercultural knowledge transfer, with a special focus on craft and aesthetic practice.
Wendy vs Tinkerbell is a project within the Kreativ.Quartiere Ruhr program, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and implemented by ecce – European Centre for Creative Economy GmbH.
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