Hello? I receive a sign the day before I arrive in Düsseldorf for Live-in-Lab #beuys2021. I’m in the art space Wiels in Brussels where I leaf through the Industrial Poems catalogue of Beuys’ contemporary Marcel Broodthaers. And there he is on page 95, sitting next to Broodthaers’ telephone plaques in an exhibition in Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in 1968.
As usual, Joseph Beuys is not sitting still. He is gesturing, talking, communicating. On the wall, Broodthaers’ telephone piece reads: “Je suis fait pour enregistrer des signaux. Je suis un signal. Je Je Je Je Je Je Je Je. / Objet Metal Esprit Objet Metal Esprit” Beuys said something similar, also involving a telephone: “Ich bin ein Sender. Ich strahle aus.”
So, a day later, arriving at Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz in Düsseldorf, I know what to do: I perk up my ears and pull out my invisible antenna.
This is your chronicler talking, AAAAA PPPPP.