From Ground Level: the Environment Strategy of Joseph Beuys and Timothy Morton

Abstract

In this article it is affirmed that revising the ideas and art-practice of Joseph Beuys is closely connected with contemporary philosophical discussions of environment, matter and ecology. Investigating the works of the artist and the influence of phenomenology and myth on his practice, it will be actualized the Beuys’ approach to art determined by a set of methodologies in which human and non-human beings interacted with the outside world are closely associated in physical and vital senses. Beuys’ works indicate to the potential for a new myth of the environment and interaction with its aspects placing us within a vibrant world of matter which shape and transform human beings and are transformed, in turn, thanks to them. However, the potential of human community and environment relation has still remained poorly studied. Earlier this potential revealed itself in myths and in the modern philosophical contexts (for example, in the dark ecology of Timothy Morton) and in the art it could be recovered promoting the existence of both of them. The structure of Joseph Beuys art practice which is appeared to be important for understanding these processes will be examined in this article. Beuys was one of the artists who defined their work in terms of ecology, and in this article it will be analyzed some of the basic premises of the artist’s ecological position and investigated a number of examples of his work. It could be assumed that the astonishing result of the artist’s work constitutes a valuable precedent for reconsidering the ties between human community and the outside world. This is the important precedent not only due to the fact that philosophers searching the new models of understanding the surrounding world turn to the art but also because of the Beuys’s art exemplifies the development of ecological thinking and his works are really accentuating this potential.