Beuys & Duchamp Artists of the Future–Kaiser Wilhelm Museum
The main exhibition in the anniversary year Beuys 2021 juxtaposes, for the first time, the work of Joseph Beuys (1921–1986) with that of the French-American object artist and pioneer of conceptual art Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). Beuys repeatedly referred to the work of his “challenger” Duchamp, as in 1964 in the famous action The Silence of Marcel Duchamp is Overrated. Duchamp, the ironic skeptic, and Beuys, the society-changing visionary – although these charismatic artistic personalities shaped the art of the twentieth century as quasi antagonists, the references and connections between them reach much deeper and, despite all their differences, reveal a multitude of affinities. The forward-looking potential of their respec-tive radical and interdisciplinary strategies will be reexamined from a contemporary perspective. The dialog between the two protagonists in particular raises fundamental questions about the role of art in everyday life and society.
With around 150 objects, multiples, readymades, drawings, notes and notations, films, photographs, and other documents, the exhibition unveils the fascinating cosmos of works by Beuys and Duchamp. With photographs by: Denise Bellon, Eliot Elisofon, Camillo Fischer, Alexander Liberman, Stefan Moses, Victor Obsatz, Angelika Platen, Man Ray, Henri-Pierre Roché, Reiner Ruthenbeck, Siegfried Sander, Peter Schata, John D. Schiff, Manfred Tischer, Lothar Wolleh, and Julian Wasser.
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive, richly illustrated catalog (German/English).
The project is part of the anniversary year beuys 2021 in North Rhine-Westphalia; scholarly support is being provided by Antje von Graevenitz, Hans Dickel and Paul B. Franklin.
Curators: Magdalena Holzhey and Kornelia Röder in collaboration with Katharina Neuburger
