The Catalyst. Joseph Beuys and Democracy Today

Joseph Beuys’s »Straßenaktion« [street action] of 1971 in Cologne chimed with the aims of a younger generation that self-confidently demanded the opening-up of society. Beuys sympathized with their revolutionary stance, particularly their ideal of direct demogracy, which he supported with his »Straßenaktion«. He felt it was worth fighting for direct democracy as a form of political coexistence, which would see the power to make decisions no longer the preserve of elected representatives but rather the outcome of widespread participation in a daily discourse.

Fifty years later, this idea is still topical. The exhibition »The Catalyst« thus examines whether and how, in our current situation – an era of global complexity and digitization that is changing almost all areas of life – new forms of political coexistence can be developed, indeed, whether democratic values are in fact immutable? These questions will be examined on the basis of contemporary artistic positions – sometimes explicitly, sometimes implicitly.