Victoria and no Rules: Cups by Rosemarie Trockel 

With the espresso and cappuccino cups no Rules and Victoria, the internationally renowned artist Rosemarie Trockel has designed a series of porcelain cups especially for the Fridericianum. Visitors can enjoy various hot drinks from these in the kunsthalle’s café.

Trockel’s multi-layered and experimental works often extend beyond the exhibition space into the private and public spheres. In 2017, for example, she designed the interior of the Lido Malkasten restaurant in Düsseldorf, and in 2021, she created the perfume RT. This interpenetration of art and life is also reflected in the cups designed for the Fridericianum, on which “no Rules” is written in black and “Victoria” in red. The expression “no Rules” stands for excess and the transgression of regulations, but remains open to interpretation. Is it a reference to art that knows no boundaries? Is the cultivated café culture of the middle and upper classes being parodied here? Or is the West’s exploitation of coffee-producing countries and the people who grow and harvest the beans being critically questioned? The red lettering used for Victoria evokes brand fetishism and consumption in its resemblance to the logo of the Melitta company, which has been selling coffee and related accessories throughout Germany for over a century. At the same time, the artist adds a feminist perspective to this reading: in Roman mythology, Victoria is the goddess of victory. Read in combination with this strong female figure, the expression “no Rules” can be interpreted as a call for liberation from stereotypical roles and imposed social images. Trockel knows how to play with the expectations of viewers or consumers. The handwritten style used by the artist gives the cups an individual and authentic quality, which one can approach in the literal sense with every sip. From February 21, 2023, the cups can be also purchased in the foyer and via the Fridericianum website. 

Rosemarie Trockel was born in Schwerte, Germany, in 1952. In 1999, she became the first woman artist to occupy the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Two years prior, she had presented A House for Pigs and People at documenta X together with the artist Carsten Höller. Since the 1980s, Trockel’s work has dealt with sociopolitical issues and reflected on the patriarchal structures of the art system. She works across genres and with a variety of media, ranging from objects, ceramics, and knitted works to collages, drawings, videos, and photographs. It was for her machine-produced knitted pictures that Trockel became especially known; these referred to the art historical positions of Pop Art and Minimalism while at the same time establishing a medium traditionally associated with women’s work in an art context. An extensive solo exhibition of Rosemarie Trockel’s work is currently on display at the MMK—Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt.