20 Menoc Hotel

Torn jeans, 120 x 40 x 75 cm 

An undeniably important German post-war artist, Joseph Beuys, asserting that "everyone is an artist," always infused his work with political and social significance. His sculptures, performances, and actions like *La Jambe d’Orwell, Pantalon pour le XXIe siècle* warn against the primacy of a technocratic reason that ignores the creative and energetic potential of the individual. Invited to Paris in 1984 by Nam June Paik, who created *Bonjour Monsieur Orwell* at the Centre Pompidou—a television program honoring "one of the first prophets of the media"—Beuys participated with two actions: a concert with three pianos and a living tableau with his daughter featuring two jeans. One is worn and inhabited by his daughter's body, whose image is projected on a monitor, and the other is placed on the floor, torn at the knee like a receptacle, with a small light fixed to the opening, serving as a source of energy, images, and ideas in response to the dystopian scenario of 1984.