Beuys block

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Block Beuys (1970/2007) (external web link)

The Beuys Block is a seven-room installation by the German artist Joseph Beuys in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Darmstadt . The installation is also an extensive collection of sculptures , works on paper and relics from numerous actions . With the “Block Beuys”, the museum owns the world's largest coherent complex of works by Joseph Beuys. The artist himself installed it in 1970 with a view to its physical and psychological impact on the visitor.

The installation

The rooms contain around 310 works from the period from 1949 to 1972 - including numerous objects and installations that are important for the artist's understanding of art, such as “Grauballemann” (1952), “Jungfrau” (1961), “Scene from the Deer Hunt” (1961 ), "Stuhl mit Fett" (1963), "FOND II" (1968), "FOND III" (1969). Felt objects from the years 1964–1967 document the importance of one of the artist's main materials. The 23 showcases in three rooms also contain objects from former actions and numerous multiples by Joseph Beuys. Drawings and watercolor sheets complete the collection.

The central showcase in the Beuys block is “ Auschwitz Demonstration” (1956–1964), in which he made several objects a. a. from previous actions. The theme of the work is the Holocaust , which Beuys interpreted as a "catastrophe". According to his statements, the showcase was an “attempt to prepare a medicine” in order to remember “in a positive counter-image, i. H. by really getting that out of the world in humans. ... In this respect, this Auschwitz display case is actually a toy. I do not presume that through these things I have reproduced something of the terrible. ”The attempt of the physical annihilation of European Jews by the National Socialists - the Shoah  - stands in his anthroposophical worldview for the spiritual low point of ( western) materialism .

In 1989, the purchase of the collection by the State of Hesse (with financial support from the Hessische Kulturstiftung and the Kulturstiftung der Länder) caused a great media vortex in the bourgeois culture and again an excited discussion about the meaning and appreciation of Beuys' work.

History of the Beuys Block

  • 1967: The "Hauptstrom" campaign took place in the Franz Dahlem gallery in Darmstadt. During this time, Joseph Beuys met the art collector Karl Ströher (1890–1977). In the same year an exhibition set up by Beuys took place in the Städtisches Museum in Mönchengladbach under the title “Parallel Process 1” (September 13 to October 29, 1967). It is considered a retrospective of his work. Karl Ströher acquired all of the exhibits. A special contract from 23./25. June 1969 gives the collector the right of first refusal for further work, and in return he undertakes to exhibit the acquired works publicly (23 September 1967).
  • 1968–1969: A second large exhibition with the Mönchengladbach works took place in the Stedelijk van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven (March 22 to May 5, 1968). Joseph Beuys added a large number of works that were also acquired by Karl Ströher. The "1968 Karl Ströher Collection", which also includes other works of art from the 20th century, was a. shown in Munich, Hamburg, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Basel. Joseph Beuys set up these himself at the various locations. The collection was again considerably expanded to include the works shown by Beuys in the Schmela Gallery in Düsseldorf.
  • 1970: Joseph Beuys set up his works in a closed room installation in the rooms of the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt that he had selected.
  • 1979: Parts of the “Block Beuys” were loaned to the Guggenheim Museum in New York for a Beuys retrospective . Joseph Beuys supervised the dismantling and rebuilding in the Hessisches Landesmuseum in February 1980.
  • 1982: The Ströher Collection was sold by the heirs. The “Beuys Block”, which also belongs to it, was acquired by a “circle of friends” - which included the collector Erich Marx and the London art dealer Anthony d'Offay . The new owners accepted the condition that any changes could only be made by the artist himself - at least with his express consent.
  • 1984: The current room 1 was made available to Joseph Beuys for expansion. There he installed the “Trans-Siberian Railway” and “LICHAMEN”, later also “The End of the 20th Century” (June 1984).
  • 1986: "The end of the 20th century" was removed from the "Beuys block". Joseph Beuys gave the installation to the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg shortly before his death in 1985.
  • 1987: The entire “Block Beuys” was to be transported to a “Beuys exhibition” in the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. Initiatives were set up to protect the last intact room installation by the artist, who died in 1986, from being destroyed.
  • 1988: The Berlin organizers of the show did without works from Darmstadt. At the same time as the exhibition in Berlin, an exhibition entitled “Beuys and Warhol” took place in Darmstadt. In protest "against the puppetization of Joseph Beuys' oeuvre in a museum", the piece of music Sympathie für Piano und Pumpen was premiered in the Martin-Gropius-Bau .
  • 1989: The State of Hesse acquired the “Block Beuys” with funds from the Hessian Cultural Foundation and the State Cultural Foundation
  • 2003: A basic overhaul and expansion of the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt was planned. The complex of works with its very own atmosphere, to which the original wall covering played a decisive role, should be affected. In the tender documents for the architecture competition, changes were indicated for the design of the wall templates and floor coverings in the rooms of the “Block Beuys”. This should be done in consultation with Estate Beuys (“current protocol status: plastered walls and wooden floor”). After Beuys' death, apart from the removal of “The End of the 20th Century”, there were only minor changes (replacement of the felt from “Stelle” with a different kind of felt, careless dusting in the showcases, water damage to the wall covering in room 3, repair of the wall covering in different rooms)
  • 2006: From the event program 4th quarter 2006: "The museum is facing extensive construction and renovation measures in the coming year, which also affect the spatial conversion of the 'Block Beuys'."
  • 2007: The museum was closed for extensive renovation from September 30th and until September 2014.
  • 2008: The aspects of the renovation of the “Block Beuys” were discussed at a public symposium organized by the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt from April 17th to 19th, 2008.
  • 2014: reopening after the renovation has been completed; As part of the construction work, the original jute wall covering was completely removed in all rooms and replaced by walls painted white. In rooms 1 and 2, a thin wall shell was also built in front of the building, which takes up the previous room cubature with the jute strips mounted on wooden frames. On the other hand, the floor covering, which has also been largely renewed, has retained its original material with light gray carpeting. For conservation reasons, the object “Scene from the deer hunt” in room 2 has been protected by an object-high glass showcase since the reopening, while the original graphics by Beuys previously installed in rooms 3 to 5 have been replaced by reproductions.
  • 2020: On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the “Block Beuys”, the Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt will focus on the history of the “Block Beuys” as well as the actions in which the Action objects shown there today were used.

See also

literature

  • Beate Elsen-Schwedler: Studies on the principles of the installations by Joseph Beuys - a contribution to securing objects . Bonn, Univ., Diss., 1992.
  • Eva Beuys, Wenzel Beuys, Jessyka Beuys: Joseph Beuys, Block Beuys . Schirmer / Mosel, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-88814-288-1
  • Leve sees Beuys. Block Beuys - photographs by Manfred Leve . Steidl-Verlag, ISBN 3-86521-001-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Barbara Strieder, Sigrun Paas (text): Blätter für visitors , 11, Hessisches Landesmuseum, p. 1
  2. ^ Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Working Group Block Beuys: Lectures on the work of Joseph Beuys - Block Beuys Darmstadt (Inge Lorenz: On the overall installation of Block Beuys in Darmstadt )
  3. Formulation by the Friends of Museum Schloss Moyland e. V. in an announcement for an excursion to Darmstadt
  4. Application document - basic repairs and expansion of the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt (PDF) competitionline.de
  5. ^ Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt: Program October, November, December 2006
  6. ^ Bernhard Schulz: A house for the world. In: tagesspiegel.de . September 16, 2014, accessed December 7, 2015 .
  7. Kraftwerk Block Beuys , hlmd.de, accessed on February 27, 2020

Coordinates: 49 ° 52 ′ 29 "  N , 8 ° 39 ′ 11"  E