Joseph Beuys
FILTER: VIOLENCE AND ITS COUNTERSTRIKES
From 1960 to 1972 the former Federal Republic of Germany built a massive underground bunker 25 km south of Bonn. The bunker, the largest secret structure in German history, was to provide protection to the government in times of crisis or war. From here the chancellor and his ministers could govern the country, even after a nuclear attack.
Joseph Beuys made a series of drawings of this controversial structure that he renamed Bonzen Bunker. He photocopied the drawings and wrote accompanying texts like ‘Here is where H. Schmidt wants to enter’, ’Enemy of the People’, ‘Ask what Bonn’s bunker has cost’, and ‘Paid with tax money’.
artwork
Bonzenbunker
drawings 1981
Joseph Beuys (Germany, 1921-1986)
‘Everyone is an artist.’
Joseph Beuys was one of the most important conceptual artists of the 20th century. In his politically charged work he pursued Social Sculpture: the idea that the world is a huge work of art that each person can contribute to creatively.
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