FLUX:US – the Mail Art Project
Fluxus, a loose international group of artists, poets, and musicians whose only shared impulse was to integrate life into art through the use of found events, sounds, and materials, thereby bringing about social and economic change in the art world. Britannica online 2022-11-11 – external link A declared goal of Artsurprise’s art has always been to break new ground in art production, distribution and reception. Art has always been successful when it has taken those interested in art out of their passive role of looking at completed artworks into a situation in which they themselves are part of what is happening and the actual artwork is only created through their reaction. The social sculpture in the sense of Beuys combined with the will, analogous to Warhol, to create multiples in the factory (here CASAdelDRAGON), which offers space and occasion for the interaction and creation of the actual social sculpture, requires…
The art of shopping
You can buy my art, but you can’t pay for it. Juan Petry Shopping trolleys wait in long lines in front of the supermarkets. It is part of our everyday life to take such a trolley, collect our groceries with it and push the heavy load to our car. Basically, the way is short. We pay little attention to the trolley and at most get annoyed when the wheels don’t move easily. In times like these, there are others who roll shopping carts through the streets. Their ways are long, their burden is much heavier. Their hunger is much greater. They look for metal and take it to the scrap dealer. They are homeless and stow all their belongings in a single truck. Politicians call them “white trash”. What had waited as a promise in front of the temples of consumption mutated into a symbol of decay. The noise of…
Sant Pol de Mar – Quina hora es? – the time inbetween
On February 15 in 1714 the troops of Philip V. wanted to lead Catalonia into French absolutism and 50 brave men entrenched themselves in the marina tower. Again the people of Sant Pol de Mar were fighting for their freedom and independence, like so many times before and after. This is the story of a fishermen village located between Barcelona and Gerona, it is the story of a Spanish-German family, it is the story of wars in Europe, the story of childhood, expulsion, departure and return. It is the history of analog black and white photography, the history of photographic emancipation. It is the story of a fading past and it is the story of your future. The history of Sant Pol de Mar is closely linked to the history of Catalonia. The integrative power of language has repeatedly fueled the desire for freedom and independence. The natural desire to…
MUARCO 2 – the exhibition in the museum in the exhibition – Valencia – Russafa – 2021
In August 2021, the MUARCO project was invited to Valencia. The DeSouza gallery showed a selection of artists under the title “Tierra i Libertad” in the Sporting Club Russafa in Valencia City. The mobile museum showed 130 works by various artists and invited photographers and visitors to the gallery to create additional works of art and integrate them into the exhibition. Over 60 creative people accepted the invitation. The results are summarized in a documentation (PDF). In this third MUARCO exhibition, too, the visitors reacted very positively to the offer to become active themselves. The power of social sculpture shapes reality and assures the participants of their own creative energy. More than three quarters of the participants confidently left not only a work but also names and contact offers. A selection of these new artworks will be seen in the next public event of MUARCO. Credits:Thanks to all creative visitors…
Tierra y libertad
This is a story about space and freedom. It is a story about the people who facilitate and maintain such a space. It is a story about the relation and dependence between a free space to try – and even fail – and freedom and libery. It is a story of the hosue of the dragon, the exhibitions, the workshops, the guests, the community and even the harsh reality. It is also a story about an exhibition which will take place in S.C.R. Gallery in Valencia in August 2021. And it is a story about YOU, if you like. These spaces are alll around us, sometimes obvious, sometimes hidden. In the following selection i browse thorugh some spcaes and touch some amazing lifes of citizens on my way, who are engaged in working for such spaces and liberty. Pere Vidal is running a fantastic space in Valls near Tarragona. He…
Masterpieces of a pilgrim
The role of contemporary art in the intermingling of cultures in times of the Great Migration We are living in contemporary times, as ever. In these times of reconstruction we experience a movement of people in Europe and abroad. Some people are on their way from the North to the South, from the West to the East. They give political reasons. Some people are on the way from Southeast to Northwest. They give political reasons. And politics means hunger, fear or danger to life. In 2011 – 10th anniversary – i started the project artsurprise.eu. My first series was about masterpieces of a pilgrim, a collage based on papers on the way of my life. These papers describe my path in life, have accompanied me to a certain extent, and when processed into a collage they become a contemporary document that goes beyond me and my little life as an…
La puerta abierta del nuestro futuro
Hola, (mas abajo en ingles…) mi nombre es juan, soy un artista contemporáneo que vive en españa y alemania y visitaré la ciudad de valencia – rusafa – el próximo jueves. Me dedico a diversos proyectos de arte nacionales e internacionales y busco artistas profesionales contemporáneos en la región.No quiero spam, ni vender u ofrecer nada más que un interés honesto en desarrollar proyectos que conduzcan a entornos sociales y pacíficos en el futuro y que permitan a los artistas sobrevivir en un futuro próximo en las condiciones de la sociedad.te ofrezco estas opciones para contactarme:– responder a este correo– use el telegrama +49 16099131933– reúnase conmigo y mis amigos en persona en rusafa el 27 de mayo.– Encuéntrame en nuestra residencia y galería de artistas en 12578 cervera del maestre, castellon el 29 de mayo entre las 10.00 y las 14.00 h.– encuéntrame en zoom el 29 de mayo a…
The day Beuys deleted his social media accounts
About love for people in times of a global civil war This is the story of a look back at many years of social art, the story of the rise and fall of social media, the story of a departure into the reald world that looks like re-treat and social death, and which only underlines that contemporary artists should also enjoy their time . My path into the arts started 40 years ago. For a small German town I was commissioned to carry out an art campaign for children and young people, my first paid artwork with the age of 18. I suggested a common action painting. The canvas 40 x 1.6 m in 20 segments faced a crowd of more than 160 young painters. The rules were clear: paint over what you don’t like. Allow the following to do the same. Return as many times as you want till…
The art of Code
As an european artist in pandemic times i have to re – think new aims and goals of contemporary art. Surrounded by agony and fear, by obedience and violence, i have to question my ideas, plans and strategies in art production , – distribution and – marketing. I do not want to line up with those, who dream from returning to the before. The past moved us into or NOW! and i do not want to repeat history. This article is about a new field of contemporary social art, driven by coding in PHP, a common programming language for web server based algorithm and logic. I am designing a tool to aviod SPAM and to protect WORDPRESS installations. You can activly support me to reach the goal, to give a useful tool to more than 20 Million website admins – for free! The article is also about the starting point…
Muarco – the exhibition in the museum in the exhibition
MUARCO is a miniaturized version of a modular exhibition space, which contains hundreds or more art works – depending on the configuration – in the size of 8 per 5 cm (leaflet for decision-makers,PDF). In 2020 i was invited to participate in an group exhibition of DeSouza Gallery in Spain. As an conceptual artist working in the field of social sculpturing i was highly affected by lock down and the shift in social realities in nearly all societies worldwide. Not only, that most of my colleagues are not allowed to perform any more, even cultural spaces like galleries, museums, exhibition and concert halls are affected. I could not follow my friends thoughts and was not able to imagine a back to normal and i started to calculate the impact and the consequences for individuals and entries as well. MUARCO – the exhibition in the museum in the exhibition – addresses…
