Friedhelm Mennekes

Friedhelm Mennekes SJ (born March 6, 1940 as Friedrich Wilhelm Mennekes in Bottrop ) is a German Catholic theologian , priest and art expert.

Live and act

After completing an apprenticeship as a cutter and completing the technical college entrance qualification, Friedhelm Mennekes graduated from an evening high school and joined the Jesuit order in 1961 . He studied philosophy, political science and theology in Bonn , Munich and Frankfurt received licentiates in theology and philosophy, doctorate on Dr. phil. and got his habilitation . From 1980 to 2008 he was professor for practical theology and sociology of religion at the Philosophical-Theological University of Sankt Georgen in Frankfurt am Main; at the same time, from 1979 to 1985 pastor at Sankt Markus in the Frankfurt working-class suburb of Nied . From 1987 to 2008 he was pastor of the Jesuit Church St. Peter in Cologne .

In 1979 he started exhibiting. First until 1985 in the Frankfurt suburban church Sankt Markus Nied, then until 1989 in the art station Frankfurt am Main Hbf in Frankfurt Central Station . In 1989 he founded in the Gothic parish church of St. Peter as a center for contemporary art and music , the art-Station Sankt Peter in Cologne. In 2008 he retired from his priestly duties. From 1989 until today he has held various visiting professorships and art projects on the subject of art and church at the University of Fine Arts in Berlin ; the University of Applied Arts in Vienna ; the School of Art at Indiana University , in Bloomington , Indiana ; the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah , Georgia ; from Kingston University in London and the University of Bonn .

Since 2003 he has been involved in the form of a collaboration with the ArtArtLaboratory, Sulaimaniyya, the Kunst-Station Sankt Peter, lectures and exhibitions in Cologne and at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst , Leipzig as well as artist exchanges , twice a year in promoting young artists in Sulaimaniyya , Kurdistan .

For the academic year 2009/2010, Mennekes is visiting professor for "Visual Arts" at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester , Massachusetts .

In exhibitions, lectures and artist talks he sought dialogue with personalities such as Joseph Beuys , Francis Bacon , Eduardo Chillida , Jannis Kounellis , Barbara Kruger , Arnulf Rainer , Alfred Hrdlicka , Gregor Schneider , Rosemarie Trockel and many others.

Awards

The University of Fine Arts in Braunschweig and the Academy of Fine Arts in Mainz at the University of Mainz awarded him the title and position of honorary professor in the early 1990s .

In 1999 he received the Corporate Art Prize for “outstanding services in the field of art and culture” from the Burda Foundation; In 2002 the Wilhelm Hausenstein award from the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts , Munich, “for services to cultural mediation”.

In 2011 he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class , for his commitment .

Fonts

Not a bad opium. The religious in the work of Alfred Hrdlicka. Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-460-32551-8 .
Joseph Beuys. MANRESA. An action as a spiritual exercise for Ignatius of Loyola. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1992, ISBN 978-3458-16256-8 .
Arnulf Rainer. Wine cross. Insel, Frankfurt am Main, 1993, ISBN 978-3458332695 .
with Johannes Röhrig: Crucifixus. Cross and crucifixion in the art of our time (Bacon, Baselitz, Beuys, Chillida, Hrdlicka, Lüpertz, Rainer, Saura, Tàpies). Herder, Freiburg 1994, ISBN 978-3451234477 .
Triptych / triptych. Modern altar pictures in Sankt Peter Cologne. Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 978-3458167464 ; German English.
Artistic vision and spirituality. Artemis & Winkler, Munich 1995, ISBN 978-3760819600 .
Joseph Beuys. Christ think. KBW, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 978-3460328624 ; German English.
The Zittau Bible. Images and texts for the large Lenten veil from 1472 . KBW, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 978-3460331426 .
Enthusiasm and doubt. Profane and sacred art. Statement series Volume 37. Lindinger & Schmid, Regensburg 2001, ISBN 978-3-929970-55-5 .
James Lee Byars. The White Mass. Koenig, Cologne 2005, ISBN 978-3883756189 .
apocalypsis. Dürer Variations by Gerhard Trieb. Wienand, Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3879099030 .
Between freedom and bond. In conversation with Brigitta Lentz about church and art. Wienand, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3879099573 .

Curated exhibitions

2006 Gregor Schneider , Kunst-Station Sankt Peter Köln, Cologne

literature

Guido Schlimbach: For a long moment. The art station Sankt Peter Köln in the field of tension between religion and art . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7954-2110-6 .
Guido Schlimbach (Ed.): For Friedhelm Mennekes. Art station Sankt Peter Cologne . Texts by Joachim Cardinal Meisner, Arnulf Rainer, James Brown, Peter Bares et al., Wienand, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-87909-961-0 .
Nicolas Weiser: Open to one another. Spatial dimensions of religion and art in the art station Sankt Peter Cologne , Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-7954-1539-X .
Detlev F. Neufert: The gallery owner of God , WDR documentation

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Minister Schäfer hands over the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class to Professor Friedhelm Mennekes. North Rhine-Westphalia , July 27, 2011, accessed on January 23, 2018 .

personal data
SURNAME	Mennekes, Friedhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German Catholic theologian, priest and art expert
DATE OF BIRTH	March 6, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH	Bottrop

[1] Minister Schäfer hands over the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class to Professor Friedhelm Mennekes. North Rhine-Westphalia , July 27, 2011, accessed on January 23, 2018 .