Joseph Beuys spent his life searching for what survives when matter no longer exists. His works bear witness to this; they set processes in motion that are not only to be understood in chemical or physical terms, but how they continue in the consciousness of other people. The things he used in his actions, such as fat, felt, bones, iron, were a means to an end; with them he wanted to ascend into non-material spaces.
The works of Josef Beuys contain language and speechlessness. Here I use my camera with the desire to capture this elusive quality. Here, too, I come up against limits. On the one hand, I know that I can only partially capture what Beuys shows; on the other hand, I know that my ability to see goes beyond that. I see my work on Joseph Beuys as something independent, which is an expression of myself and at the same time does justice to the essence of Joseph Beuys’ work.
from: Ute Klophaus, FOTOHOF Info, issue 3/1986