Joseph Beuys-Manresa - A Spiritual Geography

Joseph Beuys' first performances were a radical turning point for twentieth-century art, engaging spirituality, personal mythology, political structures, and symbolic materials. This book presents never-before-seen materials from the performance, along with contributions from scholars and critics that offer further insight into his spiritual complexity and the possibility of liberating politics through spirituality.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 224 pages
Publication date: 11 February 2022
Publisher: Editorial Tenov S.L.

The first performances by Joseph Beuys were a radical turning point for twentieth-century art. Beuys saw art as a transformative action that is both personal and communal, and his expanded artistic practice engaged spirituality, personal mythology, political structures, and symbolic materials. For Manresa, one of his legendary performance actions, which took place on December 15, 1966, in Düsseldorf, he collaborated with the Danish artists Henning Christiansen and Bjørn Nørgaard. This book presents never-before-seen materials from the performance, including texts, images, scripts, and preparatory drawings, alongside contributions from scholars and critics that offer further insight. Friedhelm Mennekes, an art critic and Jesuit priest, analyzes Saint Ignatius of Loyola's imprint on Beuys's work while elucidating its spiritual complexity, looking beyond the popular vision of the artist as shaman. Pilar Parcerisas examines Beuys's spiritual geography, explaining the importance of the town of Manresa within it and also laying out the physical and mystical coordinates of Eurasia, a site that was always present in Beuys's work. Klaus-D. Pohl addresses the paradoxical union between Beuys's mysticism and the neo-Dadaists of Fluxus. Beuys's collaborator Bjørn Nørgaard recalls his time working with the German artist and reflects on the paths he opened up. Finally, art historian Harald Szeemann considers the possibility of liberating politics through spirituality.

Weight: 356g
Dimension: 174 x 247 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9788494423468