Our Questions

What is to be understood by Joseph Beuys’ ‘every human being is an artist’ and his ‘expanded conception of art’?

What does this offer us in our work toward an ecologically sustainable society?

What is the connection between social sculpture, transformative social process and direct democracy?

And how is the connection between social sculpture and the development of appropriate social and economic forms to be understood?

What is the connection between ethics and aesthetics…between aesthetics and responsibility?

How do we free the aesthetic from its narrow confines and return it to the life of the society?

What is the role of the aesthetic in overcoming the anaesthetic, numbness and certain forms of alienation and denial?

What is the role of ‘imaginal thought’ (bildhaftes Denken) in our work towards a sustainable future?

Does this have something to do with archetypal psychology’s notion of ‘soul-work’ and Beuys’ “warmth character of thought”?

What role do different modes of consciousness play in enabling us to connect more deeply with the world around us?

And does this have anything to do with the relationship between the aesthetic and responsibility, or the ability to respond?

Is there a connection between social sculpture / connective aesthetics and developing respect for all other life forms?

What insights does social sculpture offer us about working towards a humane and ecologically viable society?

How can we rethink work in ways that enable us to work creatively for one another?

How can we move away from a system based on wages for labour that creates unemployment, overproduction and dis-ease?

How do we produce and distribute what we need in the world, without exploiting each other and destroying that which sustains us?

Is there a difference between social sculpture and a purely instrumentalist approach, in which art is a tool, or vehicle, for conveying information in artistic form?

How do we develop new forms of ‘art’ that engage us in the shaping of our lives, and how do we share this expanded understanding and practice?