Joseph Beuys

The Kunstmuseum Basel pays homage to Joseph Beuys with an experimental venture. In celebration of the artist’s centennial, around thirty invited guests will gather at the Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart to produce a richly varied program under the motto 24 Stunden—für Joseph Beuys. Die Ursache liegt in der Zukunft. A modular scenography of mattresses, ladders, and other materials will allow them to do things that one cannot ordinarily do at the museum—like spending the night.

Joseph Beuys cut a large figure on Basel’s arts scene in the 1960s. The Fluxus movement, actions, happenings, a hitherto unseen sculptural vision, and the pas de deux of politics and art arrived in the city in his wake. Franz Meyer, then director of the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the curator Dieter Koepplin were so taken with the artist’s work that they dedicated not one but two exhibitions to it in 1969. Both shows sparked vigorous debates. In 1978, Beuys’s understanding of art even informed the Basel Carnival. The felt suits worn that year by the clique “Alti Richtig” and the copper rods they wielded inspired Beuys to create the installation Hearth II (1978–1979), which has been on view at the museum’s Neubau venue since this spring. The chronology of events is visualized by a timeline at the Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart, which will remain in place after the happening.