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Joseph Beuys

Capri-Batterie (Capri Battery), 1985

Description

Maker

  • Joseph Beuys, 1921-1986, German

Title

Capri-Batterie (Capri Battery)

Year

1985

Medium

Light bulb with plug socket, screenprinted wooden box, offset lithograph on paper, lemon

Dimensions

Bulb and socket: 11.4 x 6.4 x 6.4 cm (4 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches)

Identification

Edition

172/ 200

Place

Western

Type

  • Sculpture

Credit

Gift of James Baker

Object Number

2008.66

Projects & Publications

Publications

Manual / Issue 6

Assemblage
Read Online

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Nature/Artifice

April 25, 2009 - February 28, 2010

Joseph Beuys, one of the most influential and charismatic artists of the second half of the 20th century, made his belief in universal human creativity a cornerstone of his socially, politically, and ecologically engaged work. He created Capri-Batterie during the last year of his life, while recovering from a lung illness on the Italian island of Capri. Beuys connected a lemon to a light socket, thus demonstrating that the typical Mediterranean fruit can power the attached yellow bulb and creating a metaphor for nature’s transformative and healing power. The work reveals Beuys’s interest in the circulation of energy and his concern with the commodification and consumption of nature in contemporary society.

Related

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Joseph Beuys

Capri-Batterie (Capri Battery), 1985
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Joseph Beuys

Box with lid, 1985
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Joseph Beuys

Offset lithograph, 1985
No Image Available

Joseph Beuys

Lemon

More objects +

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Capri-Batterie (Capri Battery) with the accession number of 2008.66. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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