Notorious performance artist Istvan Kantor was arrested yesterday at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, for causing a ruckus at the Joseph Beuys exhibition Die Revolution Sind Wir (We are the revolution).

Two images from Kantor’s performance with MACHINESEXACTIONGROUP at the Museum Of Contemporary Art, Toronto, 2004. Image: ccca.ca

Kantor’s piece, a response to the title of the Beuys show, was called Und Wir Auch (And we too). It was positioned as a tribute to Beuys’ idea of a revolutionary creation that extends art into all aspects of life.

Kantor arrived to the museum with a video crew and was going to proceed with a silent posing action in front of Beuys works but when he tried to unroll and hold up a sign that said: ‘UND WIR AUCH’ (and we too), he got immediately surrounded by guards and pulled out with force from the exhibition.

Kantor kept screaming ‘yes, we are the revolution’ as he was overcome by guards and led to the security offices.

Joseph Beuys, ‘Art = CAPITAL,’ 1979. Banknote, inscribed. Image: harvard.edu

Soon afterwards the police arrived but according to museum officials Kantor was released and told to never return to the Hamburger Bahnhof. But Kantor smiled and said a friendly ‘Auf Windersehen’ to the guards who saw him 4 years ago, in nov/2004, when he splashed his blood on the wall during the giant display of the Christian Flick collection.

Istvan Kantor at work between two Picassos in New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1988.
Image: cbc.ca

VoCA waits in anticipation of Kantor’s next intervention. A real revolution - at a time when art and life are truly intersecting - is due.

Click HERE for the Youtube video.

Click HERE for more on Istvan Kantor, and HERE for more on the Beuys exhibition in Berlin.