In the basement, we showed a video of the dialogue between Joseph Beuys and 300 students when Beuys visited Japan in 1984. In this assembly, while Beuys answered students’ and professors’ questions, he claimed that “we have to build a society where we individuals have independence, creativity and think for ourselves, decide for ourselves and act for ourselves.” He appealed to the view that anyone can be an artist. The director of this film was Naoya Hatakeyama, who was one of our artists.

After the closing of Art Basel, as we started returning to everyday life, there were many people who wanted to see the film that lasted 90 minutes. As Beuys was involved with the Green Party he aimed at a higher activity that was more than existing art concepts, and his voice had a reality that should be accepted by our present society. Some of the visitors started to argue in front of the video.

(Report: Mika Maruyama)