Beuys Goes Pop

Joseph Beuys turns his hand to agit-pop (1min 58secs, 1982).

'Sonne Statt Reagan.' Playing on the acoustic similarities in German of regen (rain) and reagan (Ronald), 'Sun instead of Reagan(/Rain)' stands as a protest against the 40th President of The United States' armament policies, executed through guitar, bass, drum and vocals. Featuring particularly fetching footage of Beuys swirling his microphone around his head, as his shamanistic-prophet-self finds a populist stage.

You can download the song itself, here. Speak German? Have some lyrics.

Interestingly, Olafur Eliasson has created a piece entitled, 'Sonne statt Regan,' which reverses the pun and uses it as a title for a typically Eliasson piece of perception hedonism instead.