Beuys Page #4

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in my opinion.

Why let something happen

that resulted in huge effort and expense?

The police operation, for example?

Wouldn't it have been more economical

to talk to me?

What are your plans now?

You've been officially dismissed.

What do you think about that?

How do you feel now?

Like Don Quixote, whom?

No, not at all.

Or like...

Professor,

what are the main points of your dispute?

The cultural scene has been destroyed

to a large extent, again by Mr. Rau.

Due to his interference

in the Academy of Arts,

its development,

the creation of new ideas,

as well as the appearance

of foreign artists here in Dusseldorf

have been ruined. That's a fact.

Is it really so dramatic?

The accumulation of these events

results in a kind of experience

that makes you want to leave this city

as quickly as possible.

The question is...

Shall we take a short break?

What conclusions have you drawn from it

for your future?

I'm treating myself

solely through the character of my work.

I've proposed the theory...

I made a multiple:

"I Nourish Myself by Wasting Energy."

Yes.

Yes, that's my method.

BEUYS:
FOR ME THERE'S NO SUCH THING

AS WEEKENDS:

Joseph, do you think you've chosen

the right time to come to America

and talk about your ideas

on an and politics,

after turning down almost every invitation

from America in the last 10 years?

Would you like to smoke a cigar first?

Beuys could embolden you

the old-fashioned way: by example.

He had a vision. He wanted something.

We're really into step-by-step plans,

as you know.

So let's begin casually with step one.

Casually...

He was someone who saw

in every person a potential partner

for his ideas, for his ideas.

And he didn't care where someone

came from or what they'd done.

He said of himself that his attitude was,

"Give people time

and they'll come around."

Because I've now reached the point

where it's clear to me that I won't

put on the kind of exhibition in America

that's been the norm in the past...

and that there's

a lot of interest here now

in these complex ideas

with a political dimension.

I learned a huge amount from him,

including how to cope

with being insulted and reviled.

How to keep trying and trying again,

starting afresh.

And, of course,

he was attacked by many people

who didn't like the idea of an artist

interfering with social issues.

Beuys speaking...

Joseph Beuys, both venerated and reviled,

is running for parliament.

In 1971, he founded an organization

for direct democracy through referenda,

and he's totally serious

about his current election campaign.

Serious about, among other things,

bringing laughter into parliament.

- Would you like to become Chancellor?

- Pardon?

- Pardon?

- Would you like to become Chancellor?

Sure.

Sure, why not?

Yeah, that's the way it is...

Tonight we're going to discuss the chances

and limits of politicization through art.

If I could determine what is,

then I could quickly agree with you.

I don't want to keep determining what is,

I want to get an idea

of what might be desirable for people.

You talk about innovation as if no one

had ever thought of it before...

You're just insinuating that...

Then let me speak for five minutes.

You won't commit yourself.

That's your unbridled liberalism.

That's no use to political activists.

- My desire for freedom.

- Fine, I'd call it something else.

But let me talk

about Beuys' political praxis.

I believe the term "politics,"

as it's used currently,

is what's preventing genuine change.

Joseph Beuys, you're Germany's

most controversial artist.

But you're also a member

of the Green Party.

Are you serious about that?

Of course. You have to achieve things

via a future-oriented movement.

The conference is open!

I would like to point out

that the process of forming opinions

is incredibly laborious

for a young party such as ourselves.

Beuys really didn't need that.

He got him self involved

with the formation of a party

and with everything

that went along with that.

You wouldn't believe what torture that is.

Especially in the case of a party

that isn't a party,

where everything's totally haywire.

I repeat:
no one is being rejected!

You had nature lovers

colliding with hard-core Marxists.

Then there were die-hard Nazis

who had somehow become acceptable

because of their holistic philosophy.

And then there were the left-wingers

from Hamburg.

Beuys dove right in.

We'll have to keep working with it,

of course.

It won't stop you from continuing

to work with the Greens.

No, it won't stop me.

He really believed in that movement,

in the founding of the Green Party,

and Beuys said:

'We've witnessed a historic day today."

He was so certain

that it was the anti-party party.

A Green Party program?

A Program?

- Green Party program?

- Thanks.

How about you?

Maybe he'll give us his autograph.

- I think more of you as an artist.

- Hold on! What do I get in return?

Will you vote for the Green Party

if I draw a picture for you?

Casual elegance reigned at Dsseldorf

gallery Denise Rene last night.

And men he came:
Andy Warhol, pale, shy,

constantly searching for Joseph Beuys,

who was nowhere to be seen.

Joseph Beuys, who we're still waiting for,

has become such a politician

that he knows how

to make a dramatic entrance.

I remember driving back

from Brussels with him one time.

And I said...

Because we were all very tired,

we'd started out from Brussels

at five or six in the morning,

and during the journey back he said,

"I've got to get back,

I can't stop for long."

So we took a lovely photo of him

at a roadhouse,

on which he wrote,

"The Man at the Main Lever."

And I think that's how he saw himself:

the man at the main lever.

Beuys speaking.

- Good morning, Mr. Beuys in Dsseldorf.

Morning.

Beuys speaking.

Who called?

And during the journey he said,

"I've got so many appointments,

from now on I'll start

at four in the morning..."

- Four in the morning.

-"...or at five, or at six."

I thought,

"How long can anyone keep that up?"

Beuys speaking.

I don't have time at the moment.

It's wearing me out, but that's necessary.

Why is it necessary?

- Sorry?

- Why is it necessary?

- Why've you got to wear yourself out?

- Everyone has to wear themselves out.

It'd be bad if they were good

and died without wearing themselves out.

- Okay.

- Everything has to be used up anyway.

It doesn't matter

what profession you're in,

you have to wear yourself out.

You have to burn yourself down to ashes,

otherwise there's no point.

- If you're still good, that's bad.

- Then it's frustrating, isn't it?

"Everything's still so good!"

And then you kick the bucket, that's bad.

From this perspective, not from another.

- In which area are you laziest?

- Sorry?

In which area are you laziest?

- Laziest?

- Yes, laziest.

- Maybe I don't understand your question.

- I just said...

A time always comes when you're tempted

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