Etiket beuys

Direct Democracy passes through Santral Istanbul

Annika Sehn “The party system is old-fashioned, instead of it there must be an efficient way to voice the questions of individuals,” says Werner Kuppers, the person behind the wheel of the “Omnibus for direct democracy in Germany” that made a stopover at Bilgi’s Santral campus. Johannes Stüttgen, a close friend of the late German artist Joseph Beuys, and an artist himself supports the activists in the bus with ideas, speeches and discussions. “We are driving around with an idea. We are campaigning for the realization of direct democracy on all levels,” explains Stüttgen. The “Omnibus for Direct Democracy in Germany,” as it is officially called, was on a tour of Eastern Europe including Turkey. “Democracy in Motion Tour,” this is how the passengers of the bus call their trip. The main event on the campus was a workshop with the students taking the course called “City and Art.” Following the workshop there was a free discussion with the people on Democracy in Motion Tour. “They were very interested and they were well prepared and had their own thoughts and arguments concerning direct democracy,” Stüttgen said afterwards. To vote just to elect representatives in the legislative assembly is not sufficient for a full democratic system, citizens should be provided with the means to voice their say about concrete issues concerning law and politics, Stüttgen explains. This could be done through popular referendums. Those referendums are already possible in some of the German states. Before a referendum takes place, people have to take initiative and demand that a chance given to them to express their will. A popular referendum is then held on the basis of collection of certain number of signatures and decisions taken in the Bundestag, namely the German Partliament. This procedure aims at direct access to politics for […]

“Think or leave!” – Beuys and his students: an exhibition at Sabanci Museum

Karen Inge Schewina He is known for using fat and felt for his sculptures and performances, his political activity for the Green Party in Germany, the establishment of the “Free International University” and his charismatic speeches and lectures at the art academy in Düsseldorf.Curated by Friedhelm Hütte, Global Head of Art, Deutsche Bank, and art critic Ahu Antmen, On the occasion of the 100th year of Deutsche Bank’s presence in Turkey, Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) presents an exhibition entitled “Joseph Beuys and His Students – Works from the Deutsche Bank Collection” from 9 September until 1 November 2009. It’s the first time after Beuys´ death in 1986 that his works on paper are shown together with prints, drawings and photographs done and taken by some of his most important students asPeter Angermann, Felix Droese, Imi Giese, Jörg Immendorff, Anselm Kiefer, Imi Knoebel, Blinky Palermo, Katharina Sieverding and Norbert Tadeusz. Beuys himself considered his teaching his “greatest work of art”. He believed in the creative potential every human being possesses, for him, every person was an artist, every action a work of art. “Art alone makes life possible,” he said in an interview “without art man is inconceivable in physiological terms.” Art was not supposed to be separated from life or presented in elite institutions, but the revolutionary power of art should transform society into a better place for everyone to live in. It may not have been his goal to produce eternal works; he wanted to make people think about their way of living and their option to take an active part in forming the so-called “social sculpture”.The exhibition shows in more than 300 examples how his students found to a way of expressing their feelings and perceptions of the world around them, being supported and guided by […]