Exhibition

Joseph Beuys Invisible Sculpture

10 May—26 September 2021
Stiftung Zollverein/ Ruhr Museum, UNESCO Weltkulturerbe Zollverein, Hall 8, Essen

This exhibition at the UNESCO world heritage site highlights the socio-political dimension of the work of Joseph Beuys and addresses its importance for the present and the future. Beuys’s visionary commitment to democracy expanded the international concept of art. This exhibition revisits his work in the context of the present global debate on ecology and democracy.

Taking Joseph Beuys’s expanded concept of art as its starting point, »the invisible sculpture« resists the historicization and canonization of his work. The juxtaposition of seminal works by Beuys with specially selected materials – including many unpublished items – is designed to reignite the debate regarding the significance of his oeuvre and to locate his work in a broader cultural and socio-political context. To this end, there will be a particular focus on the philosophical and aesthetic aspects of Beuys’s work that relate both to the current discourse on social coexistence and to the relationship between humankind and nature.

Atmospheric image Atmospheric image
Atmospheric image Atmospheric image
Atmospheric image Atmospheric image