Horst Kornberger

Horst Kornberger Contact Horst at the School of Integral Art



Horst Kornberger is a visual and conceptual artist, poet, writer, lecturer and researcher into the field of imagination and creativity. Horst was born in Austria in 1959 and began his career as a visual artist. He then studied Speech and Drama in England, Goethean Studies in the United States and Waldorf Education in Australia. He has taught Speech and Drama, Goethean Studies, Epistemology and Anthroposophy at Rudolf Steiner College in Sacramento and the Waldorf Teacher Training in San Francisco.

Horst is the director of the 'School of Integral Art' where he pioneers creative, biographical and story writing. He has created an online course 'Working the Word - creative writing in process,' and has recently published his first book 'Story medicine and how to make it'. He lectures nationwide on themes of early childhood, education, creativity and the use of the imagination as a healing and community-building tool. Horst is currently offering the Story Medicine Training in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth as his contribution to a global therapeutic artwork that helps to preserve the life of childhood. His latest research centres on imaginal therapy and community alignment.

Horst's artwork has been exhibited in Europe, USA and Australia and his poetry has received numerous commendations and two prizes in Australian competitions. Horst's major artistic focus is the creation of 'Icons of the Environmental Age' including 'Kompost- the heap between ecology and art', 'The Viridian Project,' 'Buddha in Honey', 'The Geometry of Hope', 'Sophia's Notebook', 'The Honeyclock' and the creation of the 'Online Campus for Global Creativity' for his Word-Work Projects: 'Working the Word', 'Story Medicine' and 'Biographical Writing.'

Horst is a father and stepfather and lives with his family in Perth, WA.

"Horst is a delightful and erudite guide. His knowledge of and enthusiasm for his subject is breathtaking and he should be declared a national treasure."
-Jaya Penelope (Student of Working the Word)

"Horst Kornberger is one of the most inspirational lecturers I have ever encountered.  He facilitated an environment in which writing flowed easily and effortlessly from our pens." 
- Jill Whitfield (Student of Working the Word)

Contact Horst at the School of Integral Art

Talks by Horst Kornberger (~70 mins + 20 mins of question time)

1. Stories that Changed the World: a talk on how myths shape whole cultures, how stories influence every aspect of our lives and how our imagination can change the world. (Also available in two parts: 'The Mother of Myth' & 'The Father of Myth')

2. Healing the Future - Story Medicine for Children and how to make it: explores the new art of age appropriate story-making and how parents and children can benefit from it - picture language as a means to communicate with the child - attention deficit and imaginal remedies - childhood as a chance of mutual healing - parenting with imagination as a social art

3. Story Medicine for Children: why the oldest of cures works on the youngest in soul and how parents can use traditional tales as a healing tool - Early Tales - Fairy Tales - Fable and Legend - Hebrew Stories - Norse Myth - Ancient and Greek Myth - Medieval Romance

4. The Texture of Fairy Tales: fairy tales as holograms of meaning - the ladder of metaphor - Hansel and Gretel or the overcoming of addiction -- Sleeping Beauty or the recovery of the inner child - Hans in Luck versus the Fisherman and his Wife - The Goose Girl or the loss and resurrection of story

5. Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia and other Childhood Myths: this talk will help you to understand new and old myths surrounding the theme of childhood and how to best use them for the benefit of your child.

6. The Intellect and its Myth: a fresh look at contemporary paradigms and their root in ancient mythological conceptions - subliminal myth and contemporary culture - the body of story and the need for global myth

7. The Grammar of Love: a talk on the biography of the poetic and the search for the world soul in Western Culture - an introduction to 'Working the Word - Creative Writing in Process'

8. Thinking with the Southern Hemisphere of the Brain: a presentation on the artistic imagination as a cognitive tool, the development of creativity and the work of the School of Integral Art.

Workshops with Horst Kornberger (one or two day workshops)

1. Metamorphosis - Healing through Communal Imagination: many unresolved issues in our life are stories not properly told. They are tales frozen in interpretations. Through the process in Metamorphosis we will thaw our stories from this imprisonment and allow them to become what they are truly meant to be: personal myths and important steps on our journey toward ourself. In Metamorphosis we will rewrite our tales and learn to give and take story medicine in community with others.

2. Beyond Writing Block - Reclaiming Poetic Capability: creativity enters at crucial moments of our lives. If these are missed we are bereft of imagination and poetic capability. In this workshop we will re-visit these moments to complete the birth of our imagination and claim our artistic competence.

3. Community Alignment: the health and efficiency of individuals depends on their alignment with their essential purpose. It is the same with teams, groups, communities and corporations. Community Alignment uses the communal imagination to create pictures and metaphors that speak to everyone in their own right and at the same time capture the spirit of the whole. This allows the members to align with the reality of the group for increased social wellbeing and professional efficiency.

The School of Integral Art

Located in Western Australia, the School of Integral Art offers courses in creative writing including: The Writer's Passage