Eurasienstab

Joseph Beuys is viewed as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. In his socially engaged performances, he aimed to appeal to the viewer’s intellectual and moral awareness. This film shows Joseph Beuys performing a ritual that symbolically reconciles the four corners of the Eurasian supercontinent. The artist wears felt-covered metal shoes as he smears the corners of the room with fat. For Beuys, Eurasia is a utopian combination of Europe and Asia and of East and West. Beuys uses a long copper staff, the “Eurasienstab,” or “Eurasia staff,” to connect the intellectual and spiritual qualities of these parts of the world in an allegorical way. Eurasienstab is a film recording of the performance of the same name, which took place in 1968 at the Wide White Space Gallery in Antwerp. The accompanying organ music was composed by Henning Christiaansen and added later to the film.