LE CONCEPT DE “SCULPTURE SOCIALE
Dans les années soixante, Beuys formula ses théories concernant les fonctions et potentiels politiques, sociaux et culturels de l’art. Héritant des écrivains romantiques comme Novalis et Schiller, Beuys était motivé par une croyance utopique dans le pouvoir de la créativité universelle de l’être humain et croyait au potentiel de l’art à apporter des changements révolutionnaires.
Ses idées trouvent leur origine dans l’anthroposophie et l’œuvre de Rudolf Steiner, dont il était un fervent partisan. Beuys forgea d’après ces idées le concept de “sculpture sociale”, selon lequel la société dans son ensemble doit être considérée comme une grande œuvre d’art (le Gesamtkunstwerk Wagnérien) à laquelle chacun peut contribuer de manière créative. Idée résumée dans la phrase, probablement la plus célèbre de Beuys et empruntée à Novalis : “Chaque personne [est] un artiste”.
Dans la vidéo “Joseph Beuys’ public dialogue” de Joseph Beuys et William Sharp (1974, 120 minutes), présentant un enregistrement du premier grand débat public de l’artiste aux États-Unis, Beuys élabore trois principes : la liberté, la démocratie et le socialisme, en déclarant que chacun d’eux dépend des deux autres pour avoir un
The « Forms in support » are sculptures that serve no cause, deliver no message, but lift the veil of the world’s secrecy a little, by showing that each form needs another one to exist, to stand upright, and create harmony.
The metaphor then unwittingly deploys an allegory of living together, mutual aid, or the possible harmony of our differences.
THE CONCEPT OF “SOCIAL SCULPTURE”
In the 1960s, Beuys formulated his theories concerning the political, social and cultural functions and potentials of art.
Inheriting from romantic writers like Novalis and Schiller, Beuys was driven by a utopian belief in the power of universal human creativity and believed in the potential of art to bring about revolutionary change.
His ideas find their origin in anthroposophy and the work of Rudolf Steiner, of which he was a strong supporter. Beuys forged from these ideas the concept of “social sculpture”, according to which a society as a whole should be seen as a great work of art (the Wagnerian Gesamtkunstwerk) to which everyone can contribute creatively.
Idea summed up in the sentence, probably the most famous of Beuys and borrowed from Novalis: “Each person [is] an artist”.
In a video « Joseph Beuys’ public dialogue » by Joseph Beuys and William Sharp (1974, 120 minutes), featuring a recording of the artist’s first major public debate in the United States, Beuys elaborates three principles: freedom, democracy and socialism, declaring that each of them depends on the other two to be.
Joseph Heinrich Beuys (1921-1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist Also known the ideas of social sculpture could potentially reshape society and politics.
Georg Philipp Friedrich von Hardenberg : known by his pen name Novalis (1772-1801) was a poet, author, mystic and philosopher of Early German Romanticism.
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller : (1759 -1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher, member of the movement of Weimar Classicism.
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner : (1861-1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist.
Anthroposophy : is a spiritualist movement founded in the early 20th century by the esotericist Rudolf Steiner that claims the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world, accessible to human experience. Followers of anthroposophy aim to engage in spiritual discovery through a mode of thought independent of sensory experience.
Translation from original text by Benoit Bucher de Chauvigne
