Brotherus-Block-Beuys

The well-known Finnish photo and video artist Elina Brotherus (born 1972 in Helsinki) deals with iconic motifs from art history as well as with the reinterpretation of FLUXUS actions and event scores, the recordings of performances. In this context, the artist has also restaged Joseph Beuys' action Kartoffelernte (Potato Harvest), which originally took place in 1977 in front of the gallery of the important FLUXUS and Beuys companion, Rene Block. From the view of a new generation of artists, Elina Brotherus looks at the performances, life and self-dramatisation of her predecessor. In her exploration of Beuys, she shifts perspectives and finds a feminine way of approaching the gestures of the iconic German artist. Gallery owner, museum director and international curator, Rene Block, connects the two artistic personalities of Beuys and Brotherus who belong to different generations. He exhibited, collected and supported both at an early stage of their work through his gallery. During various sojourns in Museum Schloss Moyland and the Joseph Beuys Archive, Elina Brotherus researched Beuys and Block, their actions, images and correspondence, as well as Beuys' long-time performance photographer, Ute Klophaus. At the end of her research, new photographs and video installations at places frequented by Beuys in the region as well as new works with Rene Block emerged. These specific new productions will be shown for the first time at Museum Schloss Moyland and in this book, edited by Antje Britt Mahlmann for the Stiftung Museum Schloss Moyland Sammlung, Collection van der Grinten, Joseph Beuys Archive of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.