Description
An invited online in-conversation talk as part of a series hosted by Treadwell's Bookshop, London, to mark the 2021 re-issue of Pollen's book, The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift: Intellectual Barbarians.Formed in 1920 as a splinter group from the Boy Scouts, and led by commercial artist John Hargrave, the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift was an organisation of utopian outdoor enthusiasts - adults and children - of both sexes. The group, only around a thousand strong, had major ambitions to bring world peace through an idiosyncratic blend of camping and campaigning, hiking and handicraft. Their efforts were underpinned by a deep-rooted interest in comparative religion and a pantheistic belief in the spiritual immanence of all things, not least in the magic of the ancient rural English landscape. Kibbo Kift’s membership of ‘more than usually conscious individuals’ was comprised of seekers of spiritual as well as social solutions and these included mystics of various stripes. Kibbo Kift’s ‘inner aspect’ was often concealed from prying eyes but, as this illustrated conversation will show, investigation of the group’s occult character, in words and images, reveals a great deal of Kibbo Kift’s intellectual influences and core spiritual purpose.
| Period | 14 Apr 2022 |
|---|---|
| Held at | Treadwells Bookshop, London, United Kingdom |
| Degree of Recognition | International |