Social sculpture

Social sculpture is a phrase used to describe an expanded concept of art that was invented by the artist and founding member of the German Green Party, Joseph Beuys.

Beuys created the term "social sculpture" to embody his understanding of art's potential to transform society.

As a work of art, a social sculpture includes human activity that strives to structure and shape society or the environment.

The central idea of a social sculptor is an artist who creates structures in society using language, thoughts, actions, and objects.

Indebted to Romantic writers such as Novalis and Schiller, Beuys was motivated by a utopian belief in the power of universal human creativity and was confident in the potential for art to bring about revolutionary change.