Joseph Beuys created art which centred around three primary concepts.
Humanism.
A philosophical stance which emphasised the value and agency of human beings, generally valuing rationalism over superstition. Has become almost synonymous with a non-theistic way of life.
Social Philosophy
The study of questions about social behavior and interpretations of society and social institutions in terms of ethical values.
Anthroposothy
Philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner. Asserts the existence of an intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, and “aims to develop faculties of perceptive imagination, inspiration and intuition through the cultivation of a form of thinking independent of sensory experience” (McDermott, 2007, 2).
Humanism and anthroposothy are distinctly separate philosophical concepts, as the spirituality of anthropsophic theories doesn’t align with Humanism’s disregard of superstitious thinking. Beuys was wary of Humanism, as he believed the value in rationality was eliminating emotions, effectively obstructing humanity from an energetic and creative plain of existence.
Beuys’ work incorporated these concepts by referring to himself as a shaman – a bridge between the physical world, and the spiritual world – and using natural objects, imagery, symbolic gestures mixed between physical actions, and using certain spiritually/religiously charged objects to represent a greater meaning – a synecdoche. This marriage of theories, combining to criticise the ethical value of institutions and societies is something for which I have a sustained interest in, and am considering pursuing.
It is particularly the esoteric references found within Beuys’ work, and the process of deciphering meaning which I am interested in. However, I recognise the issue of making the performance too difficult to understand or follow – too ambiguous. Nonetheless, I believe a performance can have layers of meaning which can be followed separately from one another. I hope that if I create a piece which perhaps references myths or events which some members of the audience are unaware of, the primary theme would still be apparent despite smaller details being lost, as Beuys says “rather than demanding specific knowledge or reactions on the part of the public. I try to bring to light the complexity of creative areas” (Ayers, 2005). However, whether I am happy with that remains to be seen.
As of now I am still writing and researching elements which can contribute to a piece which focuses on aspects of ethical decline in the current world-state, where…
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost
Violent souls, but only
As the hollow men
The stuffed men.
(T.S. Eliot. The Hollow Men)
Works Cited:
Ayers, R. (2005) Joseph Beuys. London: ArtInfo. Available from http://uk.blouinartinfo.com/blouinsearch?query=joseph+beuys&pg=1 [accessed 19February 2016]
McDermott, R. (2007) The Essential Steiner. Great Barrington, Massachusetts: Lindisfarne Books.