Press information The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is set to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Joseph Beuys in 2021 - Beuys 2021
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press office »beuys 2021. 100 years of joseph beuys« kathrin luz +49 (0) 171 3102472 kl@luz-communication.de project office »beuys 2021. 100 years of joseph beuys« heinrich-heine-universität düsseldorf institut für kunstgeschichte gebäude 24.21.00.67 universitätsstraße 1 40225 düsseldorf www.beuys2021.de press information The state of North Rhine-Westphalia is set to celebrate Düsseldorf, 23.1.2020 the centenary of the birth of Joseph Beuys in 2021 Around 20 of the state’s museums and cultural institutions will focus throughout 2021 on the Rhineland-born artist / Minister President Armin Laschet will serve as patron Joseph Beuys is one of the world’s most significant 20th-century artists. He died 34 years ago today, yet his ideas have lost none of their currency. To mark the centenary of his birth in 2021, around 20 museums and cultural institutions in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia will embark upon a critical reappraisal of the complex practice and international influence of the Rhineland-born artist. »beuys 2021.100 years of joseph beuys« is a project of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in cooperation with the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf. The centenary’s patron is the state’s minister president, Armin Laschet. »Joseph Beuys made international history from North Rhine-Westphalia. He counts among Germany’s best-known artists; as a sculptor, action artist and draughtsman he revolutionised the concept of art. The 100th birthday of Joseph Beuys is an excellent opportunity to look back at an influential artist who capti- vated and inspired people, who posed questions and provoked thought, who irrevocably combined art and life, philosophy and science. With ›beuys 2021‹ we want to show our recognition for the ›man in the felt hat‹ and his work, to rediscover him and translate his ideas and initiatives into today’s times,« com- ments the centenary’s patron, Minister President Armin Laschet. Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, Minister of Culture and Science: »Joseph Beuys took risks and brought about change with his progressive concept of art and his ideas on democracy and freedom. Their impact contin- ues to be felt in current artistic and social debate. To mark Beuys’s 100th birthday, we will be exploring his complex thought in numerous exhibitions, events and projects with a view to reappraising it from today’s perspective.« Prof. Dr. Anja Steinbeck, Vice-Chancellor of the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf: »Joseph Beuys’s aspiration to combine art and life is as impressive now as it was during his lifetime. His thought and practice were characterised by an interdisciplinary approach that encompassed all fields of science and research. As a ›citizens’ university‹ [Bürgeruniversität], the HHU closely identifies with this idea.« The Centenary Celebration »beuys 2021.100 years of joseph beuys« Numerous exhibitions, actions and performances, plays, concerts, lectures and seminars will explore the equally fascinating and controversial ideas of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century throughout 2021. Visitors from all over the country and abroad are invited to discover Beuys’s significance for contemporary art and to engage with his thought on the issues of most acute concern to us today: how might we think of democracy and freedom, how do the environment and the economy condition each other, how do politics and art relate in our time?
Artistic Directors of the Project »beuys 2021«
The project »beuys 2021« is directed by Prof. Dr. Eugen Blume and Dr. Catherine Nichols. It is situated
within the Department of Art History at the HHU, which is headed by Prof. Dr. Timo Skrandies. The project
assistants are Anne-Marie Franz and Inga Nake.
Eugen Blume is curator of the Marx Collection in Berlin and honorary professor at the Hochschule für
Bildende Künste in Braunschweig. Until 2016 he served as director of the Nationalgalerie im Hamburger
Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin. Catherine Nichols is an arts and literary scholar, curator and
writer. She completed her doctorate at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, in 2001.
She has curated a wide range of art and cultural history exhibitions, most recently »Shine on Me: The Sun
and Us« (2018) for the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden.
Eugen Blume and Catherine Nichols have collaborated on numerous exhibitions, among them several on
Joseph Beuys. In 2008 they curated the comprehensive retrospective »Beuys: We are the Revolution« for
the Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin, followed in 2013 by »The
End of the 20th Century: The Best Is Yet to Come«, which took Beuys’s eponymous work as a point of
departure for an interrogation of the topoi of the future. In 2016, to mark Erich Marx’s 2014 acquisition and
long-term loan of Beuys’s major work »DAS KAPITAL RAUM 1970–1977« to the Nationalgalerie, they
mounted the experimental exhibition »Capital: Debt – Territory – Utopia«. As part of the centenary celebra-
tion »beuys 2021« they are currently preparing an exhibition with Isabelle Malz at K20 Kunstsammlung
Nordrhein-Westfalen in Düsseldorf. Entitled »Everyone is an artist«, it focuses on the universal and cos-
mopolitan concepts and questions in the work of Joseph Beuys.
About Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys (born in 1921 in Krefeld, raised in Kleve, died in 1986 in Düsseldorf) was a draughtsman,
sculptor, action and installation artist, teacher, politician and activist. Along with Marcel Duchamp, John
Cage and Andy Warhol he is widely considered one of the most significant artists of the 20th century. He
fundamentally altered the nature, materiality, language, boundaries and tasks of art. In his practice – uni-
versal in its scope – Beuys explored questions pertaining to humanism, social philosophy and anthropolo-
gy. His experiences as a soldier in World War II had a profound influence on the evolution of his practice,
which sought to bring about a radical democratisation of society. From 1964 onwards he no longer distin-
guished between his biography and his artwork, having come to view his life as material to be sculpted.
This model became the point of departure for his theory of social sculpture, which culminated in 1982 with
his documenta contribution »7000 Oaks«. Now as then Beuys exerts a palpable influence upon artistic
and political discourse.
Joseph Beuys in the 21st Century
Joseph Beuys was unique among the artists of his time in his ability to interweave art with social process-
es and in his call for the adoption of his universalist conception of art as a creative, transformative force
within politics, science, philosophy and economics. His far-reaching ideas remain remarkably astute and
pertinent to our times. His early environmental advocacy, which went hand in hand with his critique of
economic conditions, is but one example of his foresight. As a formative teacher at the Düsseldorf Acade-
my he instigated a pivotal reevaluation of the education system. His key concern was the expansion of
thought and action through art. With his notion that »everyone is an artist« he envisioned a universal world
society.
All information available at: www.beuys2021.de
Press Contact
Kathrin Luz Jochen Mohr Dr. Victoria Meinschäfer
beuys 2021 Ministry of Culture and Science Heinrich-Heine-Universität
of the State of North Rhine- Düsseldorf
Westphalia
+49 [0] 171 3102472 +49 [0] 211 896-4790 +49 [0] 211 81-13253
kl@luz-communication.de jochen.mohr@mkw.nrw.de victoria.meinschaefer@hhu.de
www.luz-communication.depress office »beuys 2021. 100 years of joseph beuys«
kathrin luz
+49 (0) 171 3102472
kl@luz-communication.de
project office »beuys 2021. 100 years of joseph beuys«
heinrich-heine-universität düsseldorf
institut für kunstgeschichte
gebäude 24.21.00.67
universitätsstraße 1
40225 düsseldorf
www.beuys2021.de
programme [subject to change]
Aachen
The Festival for New Art
Beuys and Fluxus
Symposium
Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst
June/July 2021 — [curated by Myriam Kroll and Annette Lagler]
Bedburg-Hau
Joseph Beuys and the Shamans
Exhibition
Museum Schloss Moyland
2 May to 29 August 2021 — [curated by Barbara Strieder and Ulrika Bohnet]
Bonn
Beuys and Lehmbruck
Thinking is sculpture
Exhibition in cooperation with the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg
Bundeskunsthalle Bonn
25 June to 31 October 2021 — [curated by Johanna Adam]
The Full Beuys
On the Social Function of His Multiples
Exhibition
Kunstmuseum Bonn
8 July to 10 October 2021 — [curated by Christoph Schreier]
Dortmund
Technoshamanism
Exhibition
Hartware MedienKunstVerein
24 April to September 2021 — [curated by Inke Arns]Duisburg
Lehmbruck and Beuys
Everything is sculpture
Exhibition in cooperation with the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn
Lehmbruck Museum
26 June to 31 October 2021 — [curated by Söke Dinkla and Jessica Keilholz-Busch]
Düsseldorf
Everyone is an artist
Cosmopolitan Exercises with Joseph Beuys
Exhibition
K20 Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen
27 March to August 2021 — [curated by Eugen Blume, Isabelle Malz and Catherine Nichols]
I’m searching for the dumbest person
Joseph Beuys and Science
Lecture Series
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Department of Art History
12 April to 23 July 2021 — [directed by Timo Skrandies]
Let Them Eat Money
Which Future?!
Guest performance Deutsches Theater Berlin
Andres Veiel with Jutta Doberstein
Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
Spring 2021
Garbage collectors are my best friends
Does Democracy Need Heroes?
Radiolounge
Various places in North Rhine-Westphalia
from May 2021 — [curated by Frank Meyer, Benjamin Hasselhorn among others]
Sculptural Democracy
Forms of the »We«
Models – Parliaments – Lab
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
12 May to 30 June 2021
[curated by Ludger Schwarte, Timo Skrandies, raumlabor_berlin among others]
Heiner Goebbels: New Work
A Cycle for the Ensemble Modern Orchestra (2020)
Ensemble Modern Orchestra; conductor: Vimbayi Kaziboni, sound director: Norbert Ommer
Tonhalle
20 May 2021
Anyone who doesn’t want to think will be thrown [throw themselves] out
Joseph Beuys and the Shape of the Future
Exhibition
Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf
28 October 2021 to 20 January 2022 — [curated by Anne-Marie Franz and Inga Nake]
Joseph Beuys-Handbuch
Leben – Werk – Wirkung
J.B. Metzler Verlag; Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Department of Art History
Book Presentation
Haus der Universität at Schadowplatz
May 2021 — [edited by Bettina Paust and Timo Skrandies]Essen
The Invisible Sculpture
The Expanded Concept of Art after Joseph Beuys
Exhibition
Ruhr Museum/Stiftung Zollverein, Welterbe Zollverein, Halle 8
10 May to 12 October 2021 — [curated by Theo Grütter, Rosa Schmitt-Neubauer,
Christoph Schurian, Johannes Stüttgen, Achim Weber and Carla Zimmermann]
Kleve
Intuition!
Dimensions of the Early Work of Joseph Beuys 1946–1961
Exhibition
Museum Kurhaus Kleve
16 May to 12 September 2021 — [curated by Harald Kunde and Valentina Vlašić]
Krefeld
Artists of the Future
Beuys and Duchamp
Exhibition
Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum
8 October 2021 to 16 January 2022 — [curated by Magdalena Holzhey]
Leverkusen
Art as Catalyst
Learning from Beuys
Exhibition
Museum Morsbroich
28 March to 22 August 2021 — [curated by Stefanie Kreuzer]
Mönchengladbach
Institutional Critique
The Museum as a Site of Permanent Conference (J.B.)
Exhibition
Museum Abteiberg
3 June to 24 October 2021 — [curated by Felicia Rappe and Susanne Titz]
Wuppertal
The Infinity of the Moment
Performances after Joseph Beuys
Kulturbüro Wuppertal, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Universität der Künste Berlin
Various places in Wuppertal
2 to 6 June 2021 — [curated by Barbara Gronau, Bettina Paust and Timo Skrandies]
Torn out of Time
Joseph Beuys: Actions in the Photographs of Ute Klophaus
Exhibition
Von der Heydt-Museum
28 September 2021 to 23 January 2022 — [curated by Antje Birthälmer and Loretta Ischebeck]press office »beuys 2021. 100 years of joseph beuys« kathrin luz +49 (0) 171 3102472 kl@luz-communication.de project office »beuys 2021. 100 years of joseph beuys« heinrich-heine-universität düsseldorf institut für kunstgeschichte gebäude 24.21.00.67 universitätsstraße 1 40225 düsseldorf www.beuys2021.de press image Joseph Beuys, Scheveningen, 1976, photo: Caroline Tisdall
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