Klaus Staeck

On 9 January 1974, Joseph Beuys, together with Klaus Staeck and Gerhard Steidl, travelled for the first time to America. This trip was by no means a mere visit, but a carefully planned performance that took place in airplanes, taxis, hotels, universities, and galleries, and was comprehensively documented in photographs and video. The tour began with a packed lecture at...

Kassel, documenta 1977. A pump driven by two strong motors forces two tons of honey over a 17-metre-high pipe into a network of tubes that traverses the rooms of the Fridericianum Museum. This was the core of Joseph Beuys' Free International University for Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research, which he brought to life at documenta 6. Around his Honeypump in the...

In early 1974, Joseph Beuys, Klaus Staeck, and Gerhard Steidl sat in a Boeing 747 from New York to Düsseldorf, returning home after Beuys' American tour. The trip had been a controversial success, and its every stage was carefully documented by Staeck and Steidl in videos, photographs, and audio—their trusty Sony TC-50 cassette recorder was always at Beuys' side during...