Edwin Janssen

Theatrum Mundi II

In the early 1990s, my interest in reflection led to artworks that employed the mirror as a moral device. Bewildered, perhaps naïvely, by human weakness, egotistic pragmatism, nationalism, and war—and referencing two seemingly irreconcilable aspects of Dutch history, commercial gain and Protestant morality—I began to recycle symbolic figures recurring in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century painting and literature, such as the monkey and the jester.

Drawn to the interplay of instruction and entertainment, I imbued my reflective art with humour and absurdity. This approach culminated in works such as Theatrum Mundi II (1994), presented in the Rotondo at Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany. The installation featured five virtually identical flags incorporating illustrations produced by Holbein for Erasmus of Rotterdam’s The Praise of Folly, inviting viewers to consider subconscious bias, nationalism, and chauvinism.

Theatrum Mundi II was produced as part of the second manifestation of Oppositionen und Schwesterfelder, curated by Sabine Vogel. The exhibition brought together young artists united by an interest in everyday reality and its transformation into aesthetic investigations of social and political concerns.