Word Works

‘Word Works’ is a three-minute filmed collaboration with Joseph Beuys which first entered the public domain as part of the major Joseph Beuys retrospective held in London in 2005. Beuys regarded these works as collective performances.

‘Word Works’ was one of three film collaborations with Joseph Beuys in Dusseldorf of which the other two (‘Discussion with a Gun’ and ‘Joseph Beuys at the Tate and Whitechapel’) have been publicly available for some time. The films provide one of the few documents of Beuys demonstrating his ideas. The research brought together a number of shared preoccupations between McMullen and Beuys including language and meaning, concrete poetry, performance art and the theatre of the absurd, action art and the art object.

‘Word Works’ is a filmed performance piece in which Beuys explores the difference between the written word and physical action as Beuys sets out to associate words with new meanings. It was filmed at the Dusseldorf Academy and in Britain during Beuys participatory seminars on art which were given to invited artists. The researcher also appears in the film as a participant. It was substantially remastered by the researcher for the Beuys retrospective.

• http://www.lcc.arts.ac.uk/Ken_McMullen_r...