- Artist
- Joseph Beuys 1921–1986
- Original title
- Tisch mit Aggregat
- Medium
- Wood, accumulator, clay and wire
- Dimensions
- Overall display dimensions variable
- Collection
- ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland
- Acquisition
- ARTIST ROOMS Acquired jointly with the National Galleries of Scotland through The d'Offay Donation with assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Art Fund 2008
- Reference
- AR00603
Display caption
In this work, an accumulator – a kind of rechargeable battery in which energy can be stored - is attached by wires to two pieces of clay, as if drawing power from the earth itself. For Beuys, the production and storage of energy was a metaphor for the creative and spiritual energy that he wanted to foster both in the individual viewer and in society as a whole. This was one of the works that Beuys included in the 1982 Zeitgeist exhibition, accompanying the various elements of Lightning with Stag in its Glare.
Gallery label, July 2010
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