All human questions can only be questions about creation: the extended concept of art by Joseph Beuys as an inspiration for education in the field of art

This article focuses on presentation of the German artist Joseph Beuys as an inspiration for today’s artist, who work on the edge of art and pedagogy. The educational turn in art in 21st century is a very important phenomenon for pedagogues working in the space of art. Beuys combined art and pedagogy in his extended concept of art, so he is precursor of art-as-pedagogy. The article shows the most important pedagogical issues in Beuys’ artistic activity: education, creative activity, upbringing and human consciousness. For him art is a medium which has a big power to shape the world. The article presents the extended concept of art created by Beuys (a presence of creative potential in every human being), the spaces of crisis in the modern world (the military threat, the ecological crisis, the economic crisis, the crisis of consciousness and sense of life), and the importance of art and education in Beuys’ theory (art and education as a basic field stimulating creativity and contributing to the development of a man and the whole society). Joseph Beuys is an inspiration for today’s artists and educators, because he combined art and pedagogy in his socially engaged art, intersecting artistic goals with pedagogic ambitions. However, he did not stop at creating the artistic-social theory but he tried to make it real through concrete artistic and pedagogical activity which have been described in this article.