"Everyone is an artist"
1921-86 Germany's most influential post-war avant-garde artist, Sculptor, Performance Artist
In 1947 he attended the Düsseldorf Academy of Art where he later became professor of Sculpture from 1961-72.
He constantly questioned the role of the artist in society and strove to expand it as much as he could. He believed that art should transform people's everyday lives.
He worked in Performance Art, Sculpture and Video Art. His work was characterized by a deep belief in the power of intuition. One performance: "How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare" 1965. He created scultures out of found objects. A tangential force in the Fluxus movement in the 60's, taking part in concerts and performances and devising his own "actions."
In 1974, he came to New York with a performance piece wherein he lived in a cage with a coyote for several days.
Books he wrote:
People who collaborated with Joseph:
Sources:
Lippard, Lucy R., "Six Years: The Dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972", Praeger, NY, 1973
Friedman, Ken, Editor, "The Fluxus Reader", John Wiley and Sons, West Sussex, 1998.
Last Updated 05.28.03