Joseph Beuys - performing life

Joseph Beuys - Homogeneous Infiltration for Piano, 1966
in the permanent collection of The Pompidou Centre, Paris
© the estate of Joseph Beuys


"An object of this kind is to be understood as a stimulus for discussion and should in no way be taken as a product of aesthetics" Joseph Beuys speaking about his Felt Piano


The following recount is from the notebook of Beuys, telling us an important passage, that took place in 1945, that may enlighten the statement above:

"Had it not been for the Tartars I would not be alive today. They were the nomads of the Crimea, in what was then no man's land between the Russian and German fronts, and favoured neither side. I had already struck up a good relationship with them, and often wandered off to sit with them. ..

Their nomadic ways attracted me of course, although by that time their movements had been restricted. Yet it was they who discovered me in the snow after the crash, when the German search parties had given up. I was still unconscious then and only came round completely after twelve days or so, and by then I was back in a German field hospital.

So the memories I have of that time are images that penetrated my consciousness. The last thing I remember was that it was too late to jump, too late for the parachutes to open. .. But I must have shot through the windscreen as it flew back at the same speed as the plane hit the ground and that saved me, though I had bad skull and jaw injuries. Then the tail flipped over and I was completely buried in the snow.

That's how the Tartars found me days later. .. They covered my body in fat to help it regenerate warmth, and wrapped it in felt as an insulator to keep warmth in."

When becoming artist, after the war, Beuys started using these materials - felt, fat as well as honey as raw materials for his art.

"Let's talk of a system that transforms all the
social organisms into a work of art, in which
the entire process of work is included...

something in which the principle of
production and consumption
takes on a form of quality.

It's a Gigantic project. "


Joseph Beuys

I have been working together with my partner David Knight since 2000. We work mainly within the digital realm of new media creating audio-visual installations as well as linear work for large screens. We also sometimes carry out performances.

In 2003 we created the performance 'we are the revolt' in Brussels in Homage to Joseph Beuys, our great inspiration.

TJADER-KNIGHT inc. website, in constant process ..