On Gesamtkunstwerk
	The first art theorist who used the term Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) was Richard Wagner. In his essay "The Art Of The Future", published in 1871, he describes what he feels is the highest level of artistic creation: the combination of all arts - music, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, and acting - making one complete work of art, the Gesamtkunstwerk. In his opinion this Gesamtkunstwerk could ideally only be an opera, not surprising for an opera composer. This also had the advantage that Wagners penchant for mythological material could easily be accomodated herein.  When asking about the historic roots of the concept of an integral interaction of all arts, one may come to the conclusion that such ideas and display formats already existed much earlier. During the Renaissance, ostentatious processions with music and dancing, with specially designed carriages, costumes and painted architectural vedutes were more frequent than commonly thought. Some of these temporary "decorations" found entrance into art history - one of the most famous examples being the fantastic decoration of a triumphal procession that Albrecht Dürer created 1512/13 for Emperor Maximilian I.  At that time, but also centuries later with Wagner, the Gesamtkunstwerk was subject to strict rules and, so to speak, characterized by stringent goal-orientation. The goal was always to express a certain content, to tell a certain predefined story, either to legitimate and glorify the regency of a potentate or to construct other, seemingly more depersonalised, but no less outdated mythological world views. This, of course, has changed considerably since then. It is only possible to still speak of a Gesamtkunstwerk today because the arts themselves have defied their boundaries and freed themselves from all strict rules - and this had consequences for the term, in the course of which its definition experienced a decisive modification. The boundaries of the different genres have softened, become porous and permeable. The combination of the arts in a large work of art has, at least partly, been replaced by the combination of the arts in many small works of art. The development of the last years and decades has shown that things are coming together more and more: painting is still painting, but it may possibly have a good deal to do with dance, script or literature. The same can be said about sculpture, which, as an example, converges with architecture at first, only to emphasize their differences more explicitly. The scores of contemporary composers sometimes look more like drawings or color signals than traditional sheets of music. They do not use traditional scales and notes, instead they build their compositions with elements that must correctly be called noises and sounds.  This list could be continued endlessly. What is important is: If the artistic form is in itself synaesthetic, it is possible and even necessary to direct attention to other, until then neglected features of the Gesamtkunstwerk. In the "new" Gesamtkunstwerk, the practical experience of the performance plays a more and more prominent role, especially on an immaterial, quasi abstract level.  First of all, there is the nowadays not at all trivial factor that a group of artists with very different origins and cultural imprints actually come together in one place. Secondly, the audience plays a more important role, in which effect and participation go into an interactive relationship. One of the great revitalizers of the idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk, Joseph Beuys, expressed it in the following terms in an interview with the art critic Georg Jappe shortly after his discharge from the Düsseldorf art academy in 1972: A Gesamtkunstwerk, according to Beuys, is only possible in a societal space. Every person will be a necessary co-creator of it in a social architecture. Beuys was obviously thinking of emancipatory, socio-political developments in society at large, in which art was supposed to be part of a general, enduring mission for education and training. "As long as the last person can't take part in the game, the ideal form of democracy has not been reached. No matter if artist, mechanical engineer or nurse: it's about all-over participation." Maybe the disposition toward social utopias has generally receded in the years since Beuys publicised his theses, but this only pertains to the pitch of the discussion. Its content is more topical than ever in the age of digitalisation.
	Ulrich Clewing (translation: Vanessa Krout)