Fat and felt, expanded concept of art and social sculpture, celebrated, criticized, and ambivalent. The podcast “die erde spricht” (the earth is speaking) takes an international look at Joseph Beuys and his artistic and intellectual legacy and is the result of a cooperation between beuys2021 and the Goethe-Institut. The podcast episodes explore the traces that Beuys, his works, and his thinking have left in art and societies — in artistic, discursive, and critical ways.
“die erde spricht” brings together personal stories, experimental audio performances, and original sounds from many countries around the world and lets a polyphonic kaleidoscope resound, which deals with the person Joseph Beuys and his work in many ways.
The episodes, supervised by the Goethe-Institut, come from artists and intellectuals from 15 countries around the world.
The complete podcast, including the episodes from Germany curated by beuys2021, can be accessed via the common podcast portals.
A Podcast by ORTA
ORTA
| Photo (detail): © ORTA Collective
“Hello, I am Joseph Beuys”With these words, repeated over and over again, the members of the collective ORTA become a many-voiced Joseph Beuys, whom they approach in a performative-poetic way and whose person, ideas, and especially his references to and appropriations of the shamanic in biography and work they question provocatively-ironically: If every person is an artist, then doesn’t every person deserve a museum? In one of the 7,000 pyramids, for example?
This episode was produced by Goethe-Institut Almaty in cooperation with beuys 2021.
A podcast by dj sniff
dj sniff
| Photo (detail): dj sniff © dj sniff
How has the perception of reality changed in the pandemic? At least for those whose new everyday life takes place in the home office and in digital meetings, from which real environments and sounds have been banished? dj sniff seeks and finds reality precisely in the everyday sounds that have become inaudible due to curfews and sound filters — and in the records of Joseph Beuys. dj sniff takes these as a starting point to reflect on his engagement with Beuys in the project “Sounds of Eurasia.”
A podcast by Juanita Fernández
Juanita Fernández
| Photo (detail): Juanita Fernández © Juanita Fernández
The relationship between animals and humans is the focus of the “sound podcast” by sound and conceptual artist Juanita Fernández. Starting with works, objects, and animals symbolic of Beuys, she explores myths and narratives. She is concerned with the relationship between man and animal and between man and man. In the process, she takes us further and further into her world of thought, until finally, in the second half of the podcast, we are fully immersed in the artist’s sound worlds.
A podcast by Andreas Treske and Aras Özgün
Andreas Treske & Aras Özgün
| Photo (detail): Andreas Treske & Aras Özgün ©: Andreas Treske, Aras Özgün
In Beuys’ and in his collaborations with artists*, Euroasia appears as a utopian concept. Europe and Asia are understood as a common entity. Cultural and material analogies repeatedly collide — war and healing, the steel airplane, and the cocoon of soft felt, or modern science and shamanic knowledge. In this episode, these same analogies will be explored through sound images, sound samples, spoken texts, and collages of voice recordings. A podcast by Francesca Blandido
Francesca Blandido
| Photo (detail): Francesca Blandido © Sara Smarrazzo
In 1971, Beuys exhibited in Italy for the first time — at Lucio Amelio’s Modern Art Agency in Naples. Based on his stay and encounters, the podcast traces Beuys’ thoughts and actions during his time in Naples.A podcast by Florian Malzacher, Robo Švarc and Michal Hvorecký
Robo Švarc, Florian Malzacher, Michal Hvorecký
| Photo (detail): Robo Švarc, Florian Malzacher, Michal Hvorecký © Terezie Foldynová, Wolfgang Silveri, Martina Simkovicova
Between the ecological and pandemic turbulence, between political extremes and progressive activisms, Florian Malzacher, Robo Švarc and Michal Hvorecky discuss where - and how - politically and socially engaged art can operate today. In doing so, they refer to Joseph Beuys' artistic practice, which was closely linked to political action and social togetherness.A podcast by Alioum Moussa
Alioum Moussa
| Photo (detail): Alioum Moussa © Alioum Moussa
In this episode, artist Alioum Moussa embarks on an acoustic journey from Yaoundé the capital of Cameroon to the north of the country. Along the way, he discovers similarities between his artistic practice and that of Joseph Beuys. He begins to reflect on the expectations towards contemporary African art today and who is leading these discourses.A podcast by Luchezar Boyadjiev
Luchezar Boyadjiev
| Photo (detail): Luchezar Boyadjiev © Luchezar Boyadjiev
“Forget Beuys! Don’t forget Joseph!” This is the title of this episode, in which we listen to a sound collage composed of the voices of eight Bulgarian intellectuals and artists* of different media. Sofia-based artist Luchezar Boyadjiev has orchestrated them into a collection of bon mots and statements that is as entertaining as it is surprising.A podcast by Som Supaparinya
Som Supaparinya
| Photo (detail): Som Supaparinya © Som Supaparinya
For the sound artwork “Speeches of the Unheard” Som Supaparinya translated speeches and poems of Thai poets and activists into the songs of birds native to Thailand. The “voices of birds and crows,” as the Thai saying goes. This idiom describes the devaluation of the words of others as meaningless — just like the voices of the many political activists in Thailand who are ignored and even silenced by the authorities.A podcast by Janis Rafa and Jennifer Nelson
Daphne Vitali und Janis Rafailidou
| Photo (detail): Daphne Vitali, Janis Rafailidou © Daphne Vitali and Janis Rafailidou
The relationship between animals and humans is an important theme in the artistic work of Joseph Beuys. In this episode, Athens-based artists Janis Rafa and Jennifer Nelson explore the biological, ethical, and philosophical dimensions of our relationship with animals. They take as their starting point video artworks they created for the project “Everything Is in a State of Change.” A podcast by Marina Christodoulidou and Emiddio Vasquez
Marina Christodoulidou, Emiddio Vasquez
| Photo (detail): Marina Christodoulidou, Emiddio Vasquez © Panayiotis Mina, Fiddian Warman
Based on the artistic practice of Joseph Beuys, the project "Social Sculptures" was about social and political problems that exist on the ground - Cyprus - and the artistic practices of the participants* in dealing with these challenges. In this episode by the curator of the workshop Marina Christodoulidou and the musician Emiddio Vasquez we experience moments, discussions and performative snapshots from the workshop series.A podcast by Andrew Stock and Seth Brodsky
Andrew Stock & Seth Brodsky
| Photo (detail): Andrew Stock & Seth Brodsky © Andrew Stock, Seth Brodsky
This episode is a “red herring.” After being denied the performance rights to Joseph Beuys’ performance “Ja, ja, ja, ne, ne, ne,” Andrew Stock and Seth Brodsky developed their own strategy: “Small Talk.” Together they watch Beuys’ video “Social Sculpture” (1969) by Lutz Mommartz. A conversation begins that ranges from the general logic of European self-definition to geopolitics and colonialism to concepts of autonomy and subjectivity. A podcast by Vivian Cacurri
Vivian Cacurri
| Photo (detail): Vivian Cacurri © Vivian Cacurri
Do the new forms of communication alter a “social sculpture” as Beuys envisioned it? Are social sculptures also vulnerable to the crisis of truth and the current lack of trust in institutions? Artist and sound-maker Vivian Caccuri from Sao Paulo interviewed curators Jochen Volz and Thiago de Paula, philosopher Rodrigo Nunes, and artist Cibelle and combines these statements with her own digital music compositions. A podcast by Sau Bin Yap and Chris Pereira
Sau Bin Yap, Chris Pereira
| Photo (detail): Sau Bin Yap, Chris Pereira © Sau Bin Yap, Chris Pereira
This episode is a contribution from Kuala Lumpur-based conceptual, installation, and performance artist S-au Bin Yap and sound engineer Chris Pereira. Sau Bin Yap and Chris Pereira take us to Sabah on the island of Borneo, where they meet local artist collective Pangrok Sulab. The collective’s mission is to empower rural communities and their marginalized populations with art that addresses issues of deforestation, land ownership, poverty, education, and cultural identity. A podcast by Maud Cotter and John Carson
Maud Cotter, John Carson
| Photo (detail): Maud Cotter, John Carson © Maud Cotter, John Carson
In this episode, Irish-born artists* Maud Cotter and John Carson reflect on their experiences attending Joseph Beuys’ blackboard lectures in Cork and Belfast in 1974. The conversation took place as part of an exhibition at the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin, titled “Joseph Beuys: From the Secret Block to Rosc,” which reflects on Beuys’ relationship with Ireland.