MONOCULTURE | A Recent History

Beuys’ Eurasian world view is very much informed by the experience of war, born of the reflective era of Trümmerliteratur (“rubble literature”), and thus his world view is to look incomprehensibly far beyond, and not to be isolationist. A trait we find very relevant in the crisis of today’s political climate, with rampant identitarian and nationalistic movements having emerged in many European nations and beyond. Beuys came to prominence in parallel to the documenta exhibitions in Kassel, which is at its core an endeavour to open post-war Germany to the cultures of the world, albeit primarily to the paradigm of western Modernism. But it was there that Beuys made some of his most iconic projects, if we consider his works from consecutive editions of documenta—Honigpumpe am Arbeitsplatz (Honeypump in the Workplace) in 1977 and 7000 Eichen (7000 Oak Trees) in 1982—which arguably remain iconic due to their striking anti-Modern approach to art, environment and communitarianism—or “social sculpture”, as Beuys described it. We are delighted to consider works and actions such as these in our own exhibition, as a way to reflect on freedom and creativity.

(NH)