CHALKBOARDS

A counterpart to Beuys' use of scores as directions for a performance was his use of chalkboards as demonstrative objects during a performance, which he covered with words, sketches, and diagrams. Serving as vehicles for ideas during a performance, post-performance they (or photographs of them) became relics, or discreet art objects. In the performance Celtic (Kinloch Rannoch) (1970), Beuys interpreted the Celtic oral tradition by repeatedly drawing and erasing images on a chalkboard that represented:

· The larynx or windpipe for the sculpture of words and the sword of language (St. John: Revelation).

· Different forms within the articulation of sound, sharp and rounded, and their contact with the receiver.

· Articulation of sound through the cooperation of hard (teeth) and soft (tongue).

· Varying tones produced by the larynx when narrowed or extended in combination with a bell-shaped representation of resonance.

· A filter with a rigid and a soft element, and the larynx as modulator.[13]