Joseph Beuys - How to explain the pictures to the dead hare.

Description

"In truth, he always did the other, always did what was seemingly absurd," writes his biographer Heiner Stachelhaus about him: "Speaking for 100 days at the documenta, wrapping himself in felt, standing in one spot for hours, living with a coyote, washing people's feet, taking gelatine off the wall, sweeping the forest, explaining the paintings to the dead rabbit, founding a party of animals and bandaging the knife when he cut his finger."

Joseph Beuys would have been 100 years old this year and even 35 years after his death, he remains a dazzling personality who intertwined art and life in a more exciting way than almost anyone else. What Marcel Duchamp was to the first half of the last century, Joseph Beuys was to the second. An artist who broke out of all previously known moulds. In addition to felt, grease and trees, he also turned public speaking into artistic material, at the art academy in Düsseldorf, with politicians, on television. To some he became a "shaman and charlatan", to others the "Leonardo da Vinci of our time". A highly productive artist who wanted to stir up more than just the art world in his parade outfit: jeans, fishing waistcoat, hat.

However, his most famous statement is often misunderstood. In this programme, Joseph Beuys corrects this: "Everyone is an artist" is nothing other than the emergence of a new art discipline that every person can potentially do, namely participate in shaping social life. "When I say that everyone is an artist, I'm not saying that everyone is a painter or sculptor or musician."