Co-organized by K11 Art Foundation (KAF), the exhibition features more than 200 art works, including manuscripts, drawings, photographs, images and videos of Beuys’ performance art. Social Sculpture is the first exhibition of Beuys’ works and literature in China.

Social Sculpture: Beuys in China is the proud result of the commitments made by KAF, CAFA Art Museum, as well as other academics and organizing parties. The organization invited Professor Lao Zhu and Professor Yi Ying, who are the Chinese experts and scholars for Beuys, as the main curators, and Mrs Lan Jing and Mrs Xu Juan, who are Chinese scholars in Germany, as joint curators and liaisons. Professor Lao Zhu and Professor Yi Ying also organized a team of graduates from Peking University and Central Academy of Fine Arts, coupled with a team from CAFA Art Museum led by Associate Professor Wang Chunchen, and they have devoted almost two years studying the topic through a series of seminars since 2012.

About the artist:

Joseph Beuys (1921-1986) is one of the most important artists in the second half of the 20th century. Born in this tumultuous era, his works undertook the trauma caused by the World War II, and continued to explore the social consequences of Cold War. As the key figure during the art transformation period after World War II, Beuys' forms of creation were diverse, ranging from experimental sculptures to performance art. His works were full of nuance and metaphor. He used ready-made objects such as blankets and butter, and explored the relational aesthetics of each object within a certain composition. His artistic philosophy and ideals have become canonical in the history of art. Beuys proposed that “everyone is an artist”, and advocated the movement of “Social Sculpture”. He tried to expand the definition of “sculpture” to a dynamic art creation, and then extend it to wider social life.

Image: © Joseph Beuys