Thomas Medicus

INTUITION/IMAGINATION

?: How does intuition present itself to you – in form of a suspicious impression, a spontaneous visualisation or whatever - maybe in dreams?

I can’t remember whether any of my ideas came from dreams. Generally, I think ideas are often instantaneous. I also think it is useful to look for the origin of ideas not only within the artist but also in that person’s social and historical context.

?: Will any ideas be written down immediately and archived?

Yes, I have a folder for project ideas on my computer. Some concepts move into production very quickly; others remain in the folder for years before being realized or transformed into something else.

?: How do you come up with good or extraordinary ideas?

There is often quite a long process between the initial idea and the finished artwork. It happens relatively rarely that a work is made exactly according to the initial thought. Most of the time, ideas are like a material that I start working with.

?: Do you feel that new creative ideas come as a whole or do you get like a little seed of inspiration that evolves into something else and has to be realized by endless trials and errors in form of constant developments until the final result?

Most of the time, ideas are more like seeds, though occasionally the whole thing seems to be there from the first moment. One could argue that even this seemingly complete idea is based on my previous artistic practice and embedded in broader historical and social contexts.

?: What if there is a deadline, but no intuition? Does the first fuel the latter maybe?

Artworks can also be designed. Of course, a good idea is very valuable, but in my experience, it is also possible to start with a topic and then develop something around it. Focusing on something helps generate more specific ideas around that particular subject.

INSPIRATION

?: What inspires you and how do you stimulate this special form of imaginativeness?

There is no clear boundary between inspiration and the absence of inspiration. I have to find something interesting in order to be open to inspiration, but inspiration can come from all fields and areas of life. Interest and focus stimulate imagination.

?: How do you filter between ideas that are worthwhile pursuing and bad ones that you just let go of?

There is no clear answer to this question. Some ideas are rejected immediately, while at other times I spend a lot of time working on an idea only to realize later that it does not work. Ideas have a disembodied quality, whereas the finished artwork is materialized. That divide can sometimes be difficult.

?: Does an idea need to appeal to you primarily or is its commercial potential an essential factor?

In my personal work, commercial potential is not a key factor that guides me. I also occasionally create commissioned pieces, where financial considerations naturally become part of the process. I find publicly funded projects particularly interesting: although they involve a budget. That budget serves the idea of the project rather than its commercial potential.

?: Do you revisit old ideas or check what colleagues or competitors are up to at times?

Old and unrealized ideas are usually saved in my “current projects” folder on my computer. Yes, it happens that I return to old ideas after a long break.
Yes, I’m interested in the work being created in my environment.

CREATIVITY

?: What time or environment best suits your creative work process — for example, a time and place of tranquility or of pressure?

I don’t have a clearly structured day; processes vary a lot from project to project. Most of the time, my artworks are planned very precisely before realization. This process probably suits my personality, but it is also necessary because I work a lot with cold glass, which is often not a very intuitive material but rather one that requires planning.

?: What’s better in the realization process — for example, speed and forcing creativity by grasping the magic of the moment or a slow, ripening process for implementation and elaboration?

From my experience, works become better if there is time for development. It can also be valuable to gain some distance before returning to a project with a fresh eye and mind.

?: How important are self-doubt and criticism by others during such a process?

I think self-doubt is not a very productive feeling, whereas self-criticism is almost necessary for any form of development. Criticism by others is legitimate, but not always helpful; there is no “correct” way to make art. Art is often very subjective, and almost every other person would do something differently. Sometimes criticism from others pulls an idea in a different direction from the one I want to take; at other times, it helps.

?: Is it better to be creative on your own, to trust only your own instincts, or to work in a team?

Most of the time I work on my own. Of course, it would be great to always have a team available to work on different tasks, but financially this is out of reach for me at the moment.

?: In case of a creative block or, worse, a real failure, how do you get out of such a hole?

Failure is quite inevitable and often provides an opportunity to learn and improve. I think the most important thing is to keep going. Usually, I work on several things simultaneously, so I can continue elsewhere if one project gets stuck.

?: Should a creative person always stay true to him- or herself, including taking risks and going against the flow, or must the person, for reasons of commercial survival, make concessions to the demands of the market, the wishes of clients and the audience’s expectations?

I think the idea of “staying true to oneself” is more complex than it may seem; identity is not something fixed or stable. I wouldn’t want to define what other people should or must do; I’m not sure art is really the right place for universal statements. In my view, art driven primarily by commercial interests often loses some of its aesthetic and social relevance. Ideally, commercial success accompanies a personal passion for art and makes it possible to live out that passion. Privilege and luck are often necessary; this becomes visible when you look at the predominant social backgrounds of art students.

?: How are innovation and improvement possible if you’ve established a distinctive style? Is it good to be ahead of your time, even if you hazard not being understood?

This depends on what you want; there is no recipe. Personally, the textual complexity varies a lot in my works. I find exploration much more interesting than staying inside an established box. Some of my pieces have an ornamental quality, while others involve theory and research; some works are easily accessible, while others are more demanding. For me, it doesn’t make much sense to be guided primarily by the question of whether people will understand or like the work. I would rather create pieces that I find worth realizing and offer them to people to decide whether they want to engage with them.

?: When does the time come to end the creative process, to be content and set the final result free? Or is it always a work-in-progress, with an endless possibility of improvement?

This is a personal decision. I don’t think it is possible to define “improvement” in art in any general way.

?: How does artificial intelligence change human creativity? Do you use AI, or would you use it at all?

I find AI useful in drafting processes. Personally, I don’t like producing final artworks with AI, because it would further complicate my sense of authorship. We tend to see art production in very individual terms, even though it was deeply embedded in society long before AI: there is an industry for art supplies, materials are sourced from dealers, existing infrastructures and institutions are needed for production and exhibitions, and media channels run by global corporations are used to make art accessible online. Even more relevant, perhaps, is the fact that artists are situated and socialized in specific contexts. Looking at art production only from an individual perspective leaves major blind spots.
AI is a tool that can be used productively in certain contexts. It is difficult to forecast its impact; I think a complex process of differentiation is taking place regarding where and how AI is being integrated into different fields of society.
I expect that artists with a very formalistic approach will have difficulty competing with AI, while art that derives its relevance from the context in which it was made cannot really be replaced by AI.

SUCCESS

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” Do you agree with Winston Churchill‘s quote?

Success is also something defined externally, whereas failure and enthusiasm are internal aspects of being an artist. I don’t think these two things necessarily have much to do with each other. Enthusiasm paired with failure does not automatically make someone successful.

?: Should or can you resist the temptation to recycle a ‘formula’ you're successful with?

I find it monotonous to create very similar artworks over and over again; there is no temptation in that for me. There are certainly paths that arise from practice; for instance, the built infrastructure of the studio fosters certain practices while others remain less accessible.

?: Is it desirable to create an ultimate or timeless work? Doesn’t “top of the ladder” bring up the question, “What’s next?” — that is, isn’t such a personal peak “the end”?

I don’t think something like the “ultimate” artwork exists. If someone stops making art, then that is the end of their practice; I don’t think an artwork can inevitably bring about that ending. I find the idea of a “top of the ladder” in art rather questionable, because artistic value cannot really be measured on a single scale. The question is: the top of which ladder?

MY FAVOURITE WORK:

This year (2026) I finished Coopparatus. It is an anamorphic installation, similar to the illusionistic cubes I have created before. Theoretically, I referred to cybernetic ideas and focused more on the question of how these anamorphic pieces work in order to understand how the viewer is integrated into the operations of these installations. It is an artwork that points toward its own operations and is therefore useful for understanding what my anamorphic cubes do.