Joseph Beuys

Score for Siberian Symphony

1966

Not on display

Artist: Joseph Beuys 1921–1986
Original title: Partitur fur Sibirische Symphonie
Medium: Typescript on paper on 2 cardboards
Dimensions: Support (left): 309 × 209 mm
support (right): 297 × 212 mm
frame: 680 × 525 × 38 mm
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: AR00674

Online caption

The title of this work translates as 'Score for Siberian Symphony'. This refers to the artist's first performance or 'action' in February 1963, called 'Siberian Symphony'. The central part of the performance was a piano composition by Beuys, as the word 'score' indicates. This was blended into a piece of music by the early twentieth-century, avant-garde composer Erik Satie. The music was supported by props, including lumps of clay connected by wire and a blackboard with a dead hare hung on it. The simple style of this collage is reminiscent of the artist's early list-style drawings, which use words for visual effect and structure.