The artist as shaman: the work of Joseph Beuys and Marcus Coates

Walters, Victoria

Abstract

In this essay, I reflect on Joseph Beuys and Marcus Coates’ engagement with the ethnographic side of the shaman’s role, discussing the way in which each could be said, in different ways and for different reasons, to ‘adopt’ or refer to it in their artworks. I explore how these artists undertake what could be seen as sensory fieldwork which informs their ritual performances and look at ethical and artistic concerns raised by their respective engagements with what Eliade has described as ‘the most archaic and widely distributed occult tradition’ (Eliade in Ryan, 2002, p.8).

• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2010
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Series Title: Contemporary Ethnographic Practice
• Book Title: Between Art and Anthropology
• ISBN: 9781847885005
• Keywords: contemporary art, anthropology, fieldwork, Shaman
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/975998
• Publisher URL: http://www.bergpublishers.com/?tabid=13872