Im Kampf gegen den Kulturkampf
Bazon Brock, the German art theorist and self-described "artist without a work," turns 90 on June 2. Known for his explosive rhetoric and "Action Teaching" method, Brock studied under Theodor W. Adorno, performed with Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik, and taught aesthetics at the University of Wuppertal. He founded the "Denkerei" in Berlin, a salon he calls an institute for theoretical art, universal poetry, and prognostics, and ran a famous "Besucherschule" (visitor school) at multiple editions of Documenta.
Brock's enduring belief in the civilizing power of museums feels surprisingly relevant amid today's culture wars. He argues that museums allow cultural difference to be observed without forcing viewers to take sides. His career bridges the postwar German intellectual tradition and contemporary debates about art's social role, making him both a relic of the old Federal Republic and a strikingly current voice.