dïjałøzí
The statement that the ecological movement exists in the sector of consumption is not true, because it… the carriers of this idea are people working in different fields and a lot of people are working in the productive sectors of society. So surely I think the idea of consumption has to be considered as a very important one because the sphere of consumption has to be considered as a very important one… because the sphere of consumption is a result of the sphere of production. Without production there is no possibility to consume… so and all the doers who are carrying this ecological movement are standing in the sphere of production on the one hand and they are therefore organically also consumers existing in the sphere of production. But therefore the idea and the necessity to develop a new sociology, which is a very intimate view on the economy is a necessity it would seem. And this makes already clear that this statement is a misunderstanding. •
I saw some statistics in a book by Joseph Huber, a West Berliner leftist, and he showed statistics where 60 or 70 percent of all alternative projects are in the sector of consumption, like there are a lot of cafes, stores for natural food or for transport…
That’s true. But this would… then we must make another grammatical order. It is true that the so-called ecological models… but then we have to add another idea of the economy… we have to say that they exist in the consumer sphere because they belong to a kind of consumers’ organisation within activities. For instance you cannot consider a woman which sells vegetables from the street as belonging to the production sphere of the social order. This is what we call Kleinwirtschaft … small economy… and every small economy of shops and dealers and restaurants belongs not to the area of production… that is true. But you see it is very danger-
ous to come with such common statements. It has to be considered very intimately. So it is true that the alternative models start in the consumer sphere because they have not the power at the moment to change the sphere of production because to change the sphere of production would mean to have so much power in the parliament to form new economical laws with the backing of the majority of the people in our country… for instance in West Germany. We are standing before the problem of convincing the majority of the people in the necessity of new economic laws… if new economical laws appear also for the sphere of production, it will be the result of a new credit and banking system… a democratic banking system… then it would be very easy to transform the alternative models which are only existing in the consumer sphere now, also into the field of production. So this idea has to be interpreted very exactly and very scientifically. Also the free International University is principally standing in the sphere of production, and in our understanding a University… (The rest of the interview is lost…) JOSEPH BEUYS Joseph Beuys (12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German Fluxus, happening and performance artist as well as a sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art. His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his “extended definition of art” and the idea of social sculpture as a gesa mtkunstwerk, for which he claimed a creative, participatory role in shaping society and politics. His career was characterized by passionate, even acrimonious public debate. He is now regarded as one of the most influential artists of the second half of the 20th century.
200