Joseph Beuys and the Artistic Education (Theory and Practice of an Artistic Art Education)

Joseph Beuys significantly influenced the development of art in recent decades through his expanded definition of art. In his art and reflections on art, he raised far-reaching questions on the nature of art and its central importance for modern education. His famous claim, “Every human is an artist,“ points to the fundamental ability of every human to be creative in the art of life – with respect to the development of one’s own personality and one’s actions within society. Beuys saw society as an artwork in a permanent process of transformation, a ‘social sculpture‘ in which every person participated, and for which everyone should be educated as comprehensively as possible.

Beuys describes pedagogy as central to his art. This book thus examines important aspects of Beuys’s art and theory and the challenges they raise for contemporary artistic education. It outlines the foundational theoretical qualities of artistic education and discusses the practice of ‘artistic projects’ in a series of empirical examples. The author, Carl-Peter Buschkühle, documents projects he has undertaken with various high school classes. In additional chapters, Mario Urlaß discusses the great value of artistic projects in primary school, and Christian Wagner reflects on his collaboration with the performance artist Wolfgang Sautermeister and school students in a socially-disadvantaged urban area.

Artistic education has become one of the most influential art-pedagogical concepts in German-speaking countries. This book presents its foundations and educational practices in English for the first time.