Celtic Kinloch Rannoch Joseph Beuys

In all his lifework laden with theoretical considerations, in his sculptures, drawings and performances, Beuys advocated the extension of the interpretation of art, claiming that life had to be filled to the brim with creative activity. He made his sculptures from various waste material and scrap. His favourite materials were felt, grease and brick, and russet was the colour he liked best in the palette. In his performances or actions, he reassembled his preliminarily installed sets of objects in a shamanistic ritual, and finally restored the original arrangement.
In August 1970, he put on display in a corridor of the Edinburgh College of Art his installation The Pack (Das Rudel, 1969) in the exhibition entitled Strategy: Get Arts. For five days he presented his action entitled Celtic (Kinloch Rannoch) The Scottish Symphony, in four hours twice a day, with Danish composer Henning Christiansen involved. Some months earlier, gallery owner Richard Demarco had taken him to the Moor of Rannoch in northern Scotland where the discovery of “the last European wilderness” had largely influenced his attraction to the Celtic spirit and mythology, an important source of motifs for his lectures and drawings for many years afterwards.
During their trip to the Moor and the Edinburgh actions, Richard Demarco took photographs. The noted art promoter used these photos for his compilation published in 200 copies which documents Beuys’ presence in Edinburgh. This homage was made at a time when a wave of political hysterics swept across Scotland (gravely hitting the gallery, too) caused by Beuys’ hunger strike and his accusations of the Scottish authorities for the treatment in jail of Jimmy Boyle, a prisoner for life.

Ferenc Tóth