Between the mid-1960s and his death in 1986, Joseph Beuys created over 500 multiples – inexpensive, editioned artworks, with which he sought to make his art available to a larger audience.
I am a Sender
“I am a Sender. Multiples by Joseph Beuys”, at the Pinakothek der Moderne, shows the inexpensive artworks with which Beuys sought to make his art available to a larger audience.
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- 01 September 2014
- Munich
Experimenting freely with a wide array of formats and materials, he used these small objects and works on paper to reach a broader public than was possible with unique artworks or with ephemeral artistic activities like his performances, lectures and discussions. Positioning himself as a broadcaster, Beuys imagined the multiples as “antennae,” which would carry his creative concerns into the wider world: “I am a Sender – he declared – I transmit!” Gathering together ideas and energies from across the many strands of his expansive oeuvre, the multiples expressed the full range of Beuys’s artistic interests, relaying these into the homes and daily lives of their owners.
Presenting nearly one hundred works from the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, and supplementing these with a number of external loans, the exhibition addresses four key aspects of the multiples: their astonishing material diversity, their status as editioned objects, Beuys’s cooperation with a range of publishers in their production, and his use of the multiples to support specific projects and activities. This wide-ranging, multifocussed presentation provides the opportunity to approach the multiples from both past and contemporary perspectives, reflecting on their status as historical objects, while considering the kinds of messages they transmit today.
In tandem with the exhibition, the Pinakothek der Moderne has launched a new website, showcasing key multiples from its collection. Together with images and descriptions of the multiples themselves, the site contains an overview of Beuys’s career, a glossary of terms related to his life and art, a listing of key publishers with whom he worked, and a brief history of multiples as an art form.
until January 11, 2015
I am a Sender
Multiples by Joseph Beuys
Sammlung Moderne Kunst
Pinakothek der Moderne
Kunstareal München
Barer Straße 29
Eingang Theresienstraße