Christian Weikop

“Strategy: Get Arts took place at the College from 23 August to 12 September 1970. The title of the exhibition is a palindrome created by André Thomkins. Many of the artists came to Edinburgh to create new work for the exhibition. In the entrance hall Klaus Rinke installed a jet of water that visitors had to negotiate. Stefan Wewerka’s broken chairs littered the main staircase beneath Blinky Palermo’s wall painting Blue/yellow/white/red. Gotthard Graubner created a mist room in a space off the Sculpture Court. There were film screenings by Morgan, Mommartz, Böhmler, Kohlhöfer and Kagel. Robert Filliou engaged participants in a game and Daniel Spoerri staged a feast – the Bananatrap Dinner. Joseph Beuys exhibited three works at Strategy: Get Arts. He installed The Pack, a Volkswagen van with trail of twenty-four sledges tumbling from its rear door. Each sledge contained a survival kit made up of a roll of felt, a lump of animal fat, and a torch. He performed an action, Celtic (Kinloch Rannoch) Scottish Symphony, and displayed a series of photographs documenting his sculptures and actions which was the first manifestation of the work known as Arena. Richard Demarco reflected on the exhibition in Pages magazine: “I had always wanted an exhibition which would restore my faith in the activity of the visual artist in 20th century society, and which would help redefine the role of the gallery director. I had looked for an exhibition which would emphasise the artist’s role as a powerful defender of the truth inherent in fairy tales and as a magician able to revive our sense of wonder. I wanted an exhibition which would free the artist if he wished from the responsibility of making master works, revealing more clearly his act of creating and his acceptance of his role as a performer involving every new means of communication with the so-called layman. I wanted an exhibition which would weaken the spirit of materialism, from which more than ever the artist must rescue us. The Dusseldorf artists gave me that exhibition.”… (meer)