Jacques Tilly – Künstlergespräch

Jacques Tilly - Freigeist: Artist talk at the Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf
The Stadtmuseum Düsseldorf is organizing the first retrospective of the Düsseldorf artist and DA! member Jacques Tilly. The exhibition includes his children's drawings, his world-famous works on the subject of art and politics and provides an insight into his artist's workshop. The focus is on the artifacts relating to his internationally significant political carnival floats. The exhibition runs from 11.02.-10.08.2025.

As part of the exhibition, an artist talk with Jacques Tilly will take place on 06.05.2025 / 6 pm, followed by a drink.
Moderation: Dr. Susanne Anna. Further information here.

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Discourse: Jacques Tilly's work rests on a foundation of intellectual engagement with important traditions of Western thought. Central to his work is the Enlightenment, which showed people the way out of self-imposed immaturity. Tilly understands enlightenment as a process, as a development towards self-determined coexistence in an open society. Like his fellow countryman Heinrich Heine, he firmly believes that we can already be happy here on earth. He has declared war on all forces that seek to stop or hinder the process of enlightenment, be they anti-democrats and dictators, the overbearing representatives of the churches or ideologues and misleaders. This fight is also the basis for his carnival commitment. Together with his wife, photographer, filmmaker and DA! co-founder Ricarda Hinz, Jacques Tilly has supported the work of the Giordano Bruno Foundation, which is dedicated to spreading the ideas of the Enlightenment, for many years.

Art and politics: All too often, politicians, the church and other social forces call things right and necessary that are highly dubious. It is such transgressions, which violate freedom, law, morality or reason, that the free spirit Jacques Tilly combats with his own means. He does this as a satirist who exaggerates, exaggerates and exposes those he attacks to ridicule. The problem with this is that he only has one shot; his satirical works of art have to hit the mark at first glance. There is no time and no room for explanations. That is the great art of Tilly's work: Putting the caricatured people or events in the picture or in the scene in such a way that the aim of the satirical criticism becomes immediately apparent. The extent to which he succeeds in this is shown by the great resonance that his carnival floats, but also the large sculptures designed for special occasions, such as Brexit or the Catholic Church's World Youth Day, have found and continue to find far beyond Düsseldorf and Germany.

Carnival workshop: Carnival is the classic territory of satire. For the duration of the fun days, the world is turned upside down. Those down there take over and make fun of those up there. The prerequisite, however, is that they are allowed to do so, that there is freedom from fools. Jacques Tilly's works are proof that this has been understood in Düsseldorf. Creativity needs freedom, and this is granted to him in the face of many attempts to exert influence, especially since it was decided in 2001 to keep the theme floats secret until Carnival Monday. In return, the people of Düsseldorf are rewarded with outstanding floats every year. It is clear that there is a lot of work behind this for Tilly and his team. The season begins for the float builders in early summer with the announcement of the carnival motto. From then on, they design and sketch, then wire, laminate and paint, and often enough discard and start again, if necessary just before the parade begins. Because everything is allowed in satire, but it must not be incomprehensible or boring and, above all, must not miss its target.