Joseph Beuys stated in a letter to Manfred Schradi (Oct. 21, 1971):
"I know that from him [Rudolf Steiner] that a mission was given to me
to gradually remove people's alienation and mistrust toward the
supersensible through my means. In political thinking--the field I have
to be working on daily--it is a matter of realizing the Threefold Social
Order as quickly as possible."
Joseph Beuys's work continues to influence and inspire artists and
thinkers around the world--in areas from organizational learning, direct
democracy, and new forms of money, to new methods of art education and
the practice of "ecological art."
Volker Harlan (a close colleague of Beuys), whose own work also explores
substance and sacrament, talked in a conversation with Joseph Beuys
about the deeper motivations and insights behind "social sculpture" and
his expanded view of art. These profound reflections are complemented by
Harlan's thoughtful essays and give a sense of the interconnected nature
of all life forms, offering a basis for a path toward a future that is
ecologically sustainable.
The book features more than forty illustrations.